Alexis is a research associate in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy. Demonstrators hold up banners in front of the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands in support of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny on January 23, 2021. Nacho Calonge / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
It is commendable that the United States is holding Russia accountable for its transgressions against Aleksei Navalny.
It is positive that the United States coordinated its sanctions with the European Union, because it signals a renewal of close cooperation with Europe.
The U.S. should continue to take a firm stance against Putin’s abusive regime and aim to lead the free world in holding Russia accountable for its transgressions.
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On 2 March 2021, the United States and European Union ( EU ) imposed coordinated sanctions in response to the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition politician Aleksey Navalny (and the related US determination that Russia has used chemical weapons). The US Treasury Department s Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) designated seven Russian government officials, confirming that its action complemented the EU s designations of four Russian officials on the same day. The US State Department imposed a variety of financial sanctions and export restrictions on Russia, while the US Department of Commerce announced that it is adding 14 entities to the Entity List.
Despite their relative toothlessness, Moscow is indeed treating these sanctions as an escalatory measure.
President Joe Biden has leveled a new round of sanctions against Russia over the poisoning and subsequent arrest of prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Announced earlier this week by the Treasury, State, and Commerce departments, the measures included sanctions against seven Russian government officials and a slew of export restrictions on items that could be used for biological and chemical agent production. Washington is expanding sanctions on Russia under the auspices of the U.S. Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991. The act was previously used by the Trump administration to sanction Russia over the 2018 poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, in Great Britain.
US sets sanctions over Russia opposition leader s poisoning wlbt.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wlbt.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Moscow Angered but Not Deterred by Newest Round of Western Sanctions
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 18 Issue: 37
Alexei Navalny on a plane from Berlin to Moscow, January 17 (Source: AP)
After repeatedly and unsuccessfully pleading with the Kremlin to release imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the European Union and the United States, in a coordinated move, imposed additional sanctions packages against Russia. Seven top security, defense and Kremlin administration officials were personally blacklisted. Some of those same officials had been sanctioned by the EU before, in October 2020, for their alleged role in Navalny’s poisoning by the nerve agent Novichok, in Tomsk, in August 2020. Two days after falling ill, Navalny was evacuated, in a coma, from Siberia to Germany, where he recuperated. Navalny was arrested immediately upon returning to Moscow from Germany on January 17, 2021; he was later sent to prison for more than two years for ostensibly breaking pa