The White House announced that it is preparing “severe sanctions” against Russia for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a penal colony in the arctic.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the sanctions — announced on the eve of the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — “will be a substantial package that will cover various elements of the defense industrial base and sources of income for the Russian economy that drive the war machine, that drive aggression, and that drive Russia’s repression.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the sanctions will be announced this Friday, February 23. He declined to give details, citing government regulations, nor to say how they would aggravate the already severe sanctions that the United States and its allies have imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine.
Kirby commented only that the sanctions, which will coincide with the second anniversary of the war, will be “specifically supplemented with additional sanctions regarding the death of Navalni.”
The Treasury Department did not comment on the details of the sanctions on Tuesday, February 20, but Brian Nelson, the department’s undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, He is in Europe this week to continue working in sanctions against Russia.
“The global coalition imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russia’s war machine has thrown sand into the wheels of the Kremlin’s efforts.” for equipping and supplying your army. “President Biden recently expanded Treasury authorities to target those funding Russia’s war production efforts — even if they are located in third countries — and Treasury is aggressively pursuing those who try to evade our sanctions,” the department said last week. . “Multilateral sanctions and export controls have forced Putin to make difficult concessions and have damaged their ability to project power now and in the future”.
The spokesperson added that the United States has not determined how Navalni died, but He insisted that the final responsibility falls to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Regardless of what the scientific cause is, Putin is responsible for it,” he told reporters.
