The U.S. and European Union are expected to impose coordinated sanctions on Russia as a result of the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent arrest and detention, three sources familiar with the plan said.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity, as they may not otherwise speak to the media.
The sanctions will be the first to target Moscow since Joe Biden became president and opened a comprehensive overview of US-Russia policy, including the Kremlin’s action against Navalny, interference in the US election, the Solar Winds hack and report bonuses offered to Taliban-linked. groups to target US troops in Afghanistan. The Trump administration did not want to take action against Russia for the assassination attempt on Navalny.
The US is expected to use legal authorities to impose sanctions on Russia in South Africa for using a chemical nerve agent against Navalny, said a senior administration official, a congressional assistant and a Western diplomat. said. Toxicological tests carried out in Germany, France and Sweden and by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have found that Navalny was poisoned with a new form of Novichok’s nerve agent, in violation of the International Chemical Weapons Convention. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the attack.
On his return to Russia in January, Navalny was arrested and sentenced to more than two years in prison. He was transferred to a penal colony.
The EU has taken action against Russia for poisoning Navalny, restricting travel and freezing the assets of six Russians in October, but this week the sanctions will be the first to be issued under the EU’s new human rights regime .
Foreign Secretary Josep Borrell told the Atlantic Council last week that Foreign Minister Antony Blinken had asked the EU to coordinate with the US on the new sanctions. The EU’s procedural vote to formally approve the sanctions will close in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon.
“I do not want to talk about any measures we may take, but suffice it to say that we have coordinated very closely,” Ned Price spokesman Ned Price said on Monday about US-US cooperation. the EU prize. on the timing of the sanctions, but added: “We are working on it as an urgent challenge.”
An investigation by UN experts released on Monday found that the attack on Navalny falls within a broader trend, observed over several decades, of arbitrary killings and attempted murders of Russian citizens and government critics, both within Russia as extra-territorial.
