US goes tough on Russia over Aleksey Navalny poisoning

 

WASHINGTON – The United States today expanded existing sanctions on Russia  over its use of a chemical weapon in the attempted assassination of its opposition figure Aleksey Navalny in August 2020 and his subsequent imprisonment in January 2021.

“In today’s actions, the Department of State, under the U.S. Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, will expand existing sanctions first imposed on Russia after its 2018 chemical weapon attack against Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom, three years ago this week.

“The Department of State has also implemented measures under Executive Order (E.O.) 13382, which targets weapons of mass destruction proliferators, as well as the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) against multiple Russian individuals and entities associated with the Russian Federation’s chemical weapons program and defense and intelligence sectors”, Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken said.

He added that  the Department of State will in addition amend Section 126.1 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to include Russia in the list of countries subject to a policy of denial for exports of defense articles and defense services, with certain exceptions for exports to Russia in support of government space cooperation.   Blinken noted that exports in support of commercial space cooperation, however, will be restricted following a six-month transition period.

“We share the EU’s concerns regarding Russia’s deepening authoritarianism and welcome the EU’s determination to impose sanctions on Russia under its new global human rights authorities”, he noted.

Blinken said the U.S. government has b y the sanctions exercised its authorities to send a clear signal that Russia’s use of chemical weapons and abuse of human rights have severe consequences.

“Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and contravenes international norms. The United States has consistently characterized the legal offensive against Mr. Navalny as politically motivated, an assessment shared by our G7 partners and the European Court of Human Rights.  We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny”, he added.

He said the Department of the Treasury is also designating  seven Russian government officials, five of whom were previously designated by the EU and UK for their role in Navalny’s poisoning and two whom the EU designated in response to Mr. Navalny’s arrest and imprisonment.  He said the Department of Commerce is adding 14 entities to the Entity List based on their proliferation activities in support of Russia’s weapons of mass destruction programs and chemical weapons activities.