US preparing fresh sanctions against Russia over Alexei Navalny poisoning: White House
- Jailed opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was arrested in January upon returning to Russia after recovering from a poisoning
- National security adviser Jake Sullivan noted that the US has already sanctioned Russia for the poisoning, but ‘we are preparing another package of sanctions’
The United States is preparing fresh sanctions against Russia over the near-fatal poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, a top White House adviser warned on Sunday.
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted on Sunday that the US has already sanctioned Russia for “the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.”
“We rallied European allies in a joint effort to impose costs on Russia for the use of a chemical agent against one of their citizens on Russian soil,” he told CNN’s State of the Union programme.
But he said “We are preparing another package of sanctions to apply in this case … We’ve shown along the way we’re not going to pull our punches.”
Moscow pushed back against the possibility of new sanctions and warned of a Russian response.
“The illegal actions of the United States have always been followed by a legitimate response from us,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.
Among other things, the two leaders agreed to return their respective ambassadors – the Russian Antonov and the American John Sullivan, withdrawn in tit-for-tat fashion after Biden in March likened Putin to a “killer.”
Speaking on Sunday upon his arrival back in New York, Antonov said he had just learned of the sanctions threat.
“I think that it is not possible to stabilise relations, improve mutual relations between two countries, through sanctions,” he said, calling instead for a restoration of dialogue.
Biden and Putin sought in Geneva to cool tensions in the combustible US-Russian relationship.
Putin has rejected criticism of his treatment of opponents – many high-profile critics have been killed in Russia during his rule and the media is almost entirely muzzled – saying that the United States had bigger problems.
A day after the summit, the Kremlin was guarded about future dialogue with Washington.
“We are ready to continue this dialogue to the same extent as the American side is,” Putin said in televised remarks.
The Russian leader said the meeting was “quite friendly” and that he and Biden “were able to understand each other on key issues.”