Joe Biden And Vladimir Putin Met Last Week, The US Has Prepared New Sanctions For Russia

President Joe Biden's meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland. (Screenshot of Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - A senior White House official said the United States (US) had prepared new sanctions against Russia, less than a week from the meeting of President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland.

The sanctions are said to be linked to the detention of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny since January, after arriving from treatment in Germany after escaping a poisoning attempt attributed to Russia.

"We have sanctioned Russia for poisoning Alexei Navalny. We are gathering European allies in a concerted effort to hold Russia accountable for the use of chemicals against one of their Russian citizens", US President Joe Biden's National Security Adviser told CNN's 'State' of the Union' as quoted by The Moscow Times, Monday, June 21.

Previously, the United States imposed sanctions on the Director of the Russian FSB Security Agency, after finding indications of poisoning Alexei Navalny.

"We are preparing another package of sanctions to apply in this case as well. We have shown along the way that we will not withdraw our blow", Sullivan added.

Moscow rejected the possibility of new sanctions and warned of an imminent reaction by Russia.

"The illegal actions of the United States are always followed by a legitimate response from us", Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.

"It's strange that some people in Washington like to go round and round and be faced with the same obstacles over and over again", she stressed.

Talks about new sanctions come days after President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva, Switzerland Wednesday, June 16 last week. The summit is the first for the two, in a bid to ease tensions between Washington and the Kremlin.

The day after the summit, the Kremlin said it was ready to build a future dialogue with Washington. Meanwhile, President Putin said his meeting with President Biden was quite friendly and able to understand each other's main issues.

"We are ready to continue this dialogue at the same level as the American side", President Putin said in televised remarks.