The Biden administration is making ready “major sanctions” in opposition to Moscow in response to the death of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, a White Home official mentioned on Tuesday.
John F. Kirby, a Nationwide Safety Council spokesman, mentioned the sanctions can be introduced on Friday. President Biden has mentioned there may be “no doubt” that Vladimir V. Putin’s authorities was behind the dying of Mr. Navalny.
“Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr. Navalny’s death,” Mr. Kirby instructed reporters on Tuesday.
Mr. Kirby declined to element what can be included within the sanctions bundle however mentioned it could be devised to “hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny and, quite frankly, for all its actions over the course of this vicious and brutal war that has now raged on for two years.”
Russian officers have mentioned Mr. Navalny, 47, misplaced consciousness and died after taking a stroll on Friday within the Arctic jail where he was moved last year. Russia has introduced an investigation into Mr. Navalny’s dying, however Mr. Kirby mentioned on Tuesday that “regardless of the actual scientific answer, Mr. Putin is responsible for it.”
“Absent some credible investigation into his death, it’s hard to get to a point where we can just take the Russians’ word for it,” he mentioned.
Mr. Navalny’s dying got here as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine neared the top of its second yr and billions of {dollars} in U.S. help remained caught in Congress. Mr. Navalny, who was one in all Mr. Putin’s fiercest critics, was additionally a forceful voice in condemning the invasion.
“One of the most powerful things that we can do right now to stand up to Vladimir Putin, of course, is to again pass the bipartisan national security supplemental bill and support Ukraine as they continue to fight bravely in defense of their country,” Mr. Kirby mentioned.
Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, the Biden administration has announced a series of sanctions that america hoped would hobble Russia economically and militarily. Washington has minimize off Russia’s largest banks and firms from Western monetary markets, joined with Europe to freeze a whole bunch of billions of {dollars} of Russian central financial institution belongings, and joined its Group of seven allies in taking steps to curb the stream of navy know-how to Russia.
However the sanctions have largely failed to change the nation’s means to endure economically all through the conflict as Mr. Biden had hoped. Simply final month, the Worldwide Financial Fund said Russia’s economy is actually growing faster than expected.
In response to a query in regards to the effectiveness of earlier sanctions, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White Home press secretary, maintained that america and its companions had “imposed the most severe sanctions on Russia that any economy of its size has ever faced.”
“We’ve kicked them out of the international organization and worked to isolate them on the world stage,” she added.
Alan Rappeport and Katie Rogers contributed reporting.
