The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions to punish Russia for what it described as Moscows attempt to poison opposition leader Alexey Navalny with a nerve agent last year, an action that represents US President Joe Bidens most direct challenge yet to the Kremlin.
The sanctions against 14 entities and seven senior Russian officials, among them the head of its FSB security service, marked a sharp departure from former US President Donald Trumps reluctance to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny, 44, fell ill on a flight in Siberia in August and was airlifted to Germany, where doctors concluded he had been poisoned with a nerve agent. The Kremlin has denied any role in his illness and said it has seen no proof he was poisoned.
Navalny was arrested in January on his return from Germany following treatment for poisoning with what many Western countries say was a military-grade nerve agent. He was jailed on February 2 for parole violations on what he says were politically motivated charges and sent to a penal colony on Monday.
The [US] intelligence community assesses with high confidence that officers of Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) used a nerve agent to poison Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, discussing the sanctions.
Among those blacklisted by the US Department of the Treasury were Alexander Bortnikov, director of the FSB; Andrei Yarin, chief of the Kremlins domestic policy directorate; and deputy ministers of defence Aleksey Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov.
The Treasury also said it blacklisted Sergey Kiriyenko, a former prime minister who is now Putins first deputy chief of staff; Alexander Kalashnikov, director of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service; and Prosecutor-General Igor Krasnov.
As a result, all assets of the seven under US jurisdiction are frozen and US persons are generally barred from dealing with them. In addition, any foreigner who knowingly facilitates a significant transaction for them risks being sanctioned.
It was unclear whether the seven had US assets, making it hard to judge whether the impact of the sanctions would be more than symbolic.
We also reiterate our call for the Russian government to release Mr Navalny, said the spokeswoman.
Psaki defended the decision not to sanction Putin or Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who US intelligence believes approved an operation to capture or kill murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, saying this reflected a need to be able to maintain a relationship moving forward.
Navalny, a critic and political opponent of Putin, was targeted for raising questions about Russian corruption and was the latest example of Russian efforts to silence dissent, US officials told reporters on a conference call.
Russias attempt to kill Mr. Navalny follows an alarming pattern of chemical weapons use by Russia, a senior US official told reporters on a call, referring to the March 2018 poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England with a military-grade nerve agent.
In addition, 14 entities associated with Russias biological and chemical agent production, including 13 commercial parties nine in Russia, three in Germany and one in Switzerland were hit with punitive measures, as was a Russian government research institute.
The US acted in concert with the European Union, which on Tuesday imposed largely symbolic sanctions on four senior Russian officials close to Putin, a move agreed by EU ministers last week in response to Navalnys jailing.
The EU sanctions apply to Alexander Bastrykin, whose Investigative Committee handles major criminal probes and reports to Putin; Viktor Zolotov, head of Russias National Guard who threatened Navalny with violence in 2018; as well as to Krasnov and Kalashnikov.
The EU sanctions fall short of calls by Navalnys supporters to punish wealthy businessmen around Putin known as oligarchs who travel regularly to the EU.
Unlike Western sanctions imposed on Russias economy in 2014 in response to its annexation of Crimea, travel bans and asset freezes have less impact, experts say, because state officials do not have funds in EU banks or travel to the EU.
Further sanctions are likely as the US assesses the Russian role in the massive SolarWinds cyber hack and allegations that Russia sought to interfere in the 2020 US election and offered bounties to Taliban fighters to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, US officials said.
Biden has taken a tougher approach to Putin than Trump.
We expect this relationship to remain a challenge, said a US official, saying Washington would work with Moscow when it served US interests. Given Russias conduct in recent months and years, there will also undoubtedly be adversarial elements.
Before the US announcement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would respond in kind to any new US sanctions over Navalny, the Interfax news agency reported.
Speaking after the announcement, Russias envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizov, said Moscow would respond to the latest round of EU sanctions, RIA news agency reported.
