Poisoning of Alexei Navalny: Washington sanctions several Russian officials
For Washington, Alexeï Navalny was poisoned in Novichok by FSB officials.
Handout Moscow City Court press service / AFP
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The United States announced this Tuesday, March 2, sanctions against several senior Russian officials, in response to the poisoning of the opponent Alexeï Navalny, for which the American intelligence services consider Moscow responsible.
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For the American intelligence services, there is no doubt: officials of the Russian security services used the toxic agent Novichok to
poison Alexei Navalny
, whose immediate release Washington is asking for today.
The Biden administration, in coordination with the European Union, has therefore decided to impose sanctions on seven personalities in Vladimir Putin's entourage.
Their financial assets as well as other of their property in the United States will be frozen.
Washington is also announcing new restrictions on the export of products that could be used to manufacture chemical weapons.
These sanctions, the first against Russia announced by Joe Biden, will undoubtedly have no effect on the fate of the Russian opponent.
On the other hand, they confirm that the new tenant of the White House has adopted a much firmer tone with regard to Moscow than his predecessor Donald Trump.
Alexeï Navalny arrived Sunday
in a penal colony
200 kilometers east of Moscow to serve a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, which he and his supporters denounce as political.
The Russian justice system transformed last January in prison a suspended sentence to which he was sentenced in 2014.
The 44-year-old Russian opponent has been the subject of multiple legal proceedings since his return to Russia in January from five months of convalescence in Germany following his poisoning.
His arrest on January 17 sparked major protests in Russia, to which authorities responded with more than 11,000 arrests, usually followed by fines and short prison terms.
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Russia
United States
Alexei Navalny