United States Prepares Penalties For Russia Over Attempted Assassination Of Activist Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny (Wikimedia Commons / Michał Siergiejevicz)

JAKARTA - The United States is said to be preparing penalties to punish Russia for the attempted murder by poisoning the Kremlin activist and critic, Alexei Navalny.

Cited from Reuters, an anonymous source with knowledge of this said, penalties will be announced as early as Tuesday local time.

The decision to be taken by President Joe Biden's administration is firmer, compared to the attitude of his predecessor Donald Trump, who ignored the events that took place in August 2020.

He explained that there are two sources of Executive Orders that can be used to punish Russian officials involved in this case. First, Executive Order 13661, which was issued after Russia's invasion of Crimea but granted broad authority to target Russian officials. And Executive Order 13382, issued in 2005 to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Both orders allow the United States to freeze the United States assets of those it targets, effectively barring US companies and individuals from dealing with them.

The source added that President Biden's Administration also plans to act under the US Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Elimination of Warfare Act of 1991, which "provides" with a variety of punishment options.

"Some people will be targeted in the sanctions that will be announced as soon as Tuesday, but refused to name their names or say what other sanctions might be imposed", the source said.

The source added that Washington would maintain waivers allowing foreign aid and certain export licenses for Russia. There has been no confirmation from the United States Department of State regarding this matter.

In addition, these sanctions are said to be aligned with sanctions imposed by the European Union, after on February 22 European Union foreign ministers agreed on sanctions for four senior Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin.

Alexei Navalny fell ill on a flight over Siberia in August last year and was flown to Germany, where doctors concluded that he had been poisoned with neurons. The Kremlin denied any role in his illness and said it had seen no evidence that he was poisoned.

After his medical treatment in Germany, this critic returned to Russia in January. He was arrested and later sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for a parole offense.