US prepares new sanctions against Russia in Alexei Navalny case

US prepares new sanctions on Moscow for imprisoning Russian opposition Alexei NavalnyThe White House national security adviser said on Sunday: Jake sullivan.

“We are preparing another round of sanctions to be applied in this situation”said to the chain CNN, four days after the Geneva summit between the American president Joe biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Poutine.

Alexei Navalny, leader of the main Russian opposition party, was transferred in a coma to a Berlin hospital in August 2020 after a poisoning in Russia which he attributes to the Kremlin.

He spent nearly six months recovering in Germany and was arrested in January upon his return to Russia. Since then, he has been imprisoned and Washington demands his release.

“We have already sanctioned Russia for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny”Sullivan called back. “We did not do it alone, we united our allies in a collective effort to sanction the use of a chemical agent against one of its citizens on Russian soil ”.

On March 2, a few days after Navalny’s imprisonment in a prison east of Moscow, Washington has applied sanctions to seven senior Russian officials, the first sanctions against Russia under Biden, which began on January 20.

Just before the Russian-American summit in Geneva on June 16, Biden said Navalny’s death “will only deteriorate (Moscow’s) relations with the rest of the world.” “And with me,” he stressed.

When they meet, Biden and Putin have shown their willingness to ease tensions, although they did not make any concrete announcements.

On the fate of Navalny, Putin confined himself to saying that “this man knew he was breaking the law in force in Russia”.

Russian Ambassador returns to the United States

The announcement of the new sanctions for the Navalny case comes the same day that Russian ambassador to the United States, called for consultations in March, returned to Washington to resume his duties, following an agreement at the top.

“Given the results of the meeting between the two presidents, I count on constructive work with my American colleagues to build egalitarian and pragmatic relations,” said the ambassador. Anatoly Antonov at the agency Ria Novosti, claiming to be “optimistic”.

The United States Ambassador to Russia, John sullivan, announced for its part that will be back in Moscow “soon”, and cited as the objectives “strategic stability, human rights and a stable and predictable relationship with Russia,” a spokesperson for the diplomatic legation said on Twitter.

Russia called Antonov for consultations after Biden compared Putin to a “murderer,” then Sullivan returned to Washington., which the Kremlin had demanded.

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