The U.S. sanctioned seven Russian officials over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Navalny. Moscow then stated that it would respond with reciprocal measures.
Washington believes that the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexeï Navalny last year was due to poisoning in which the head of the Russian Federal Security Service and other people were involved. In response, the U.S. announced on Tuesday that it had frozen the assets of seven top Russian officials. Moscow reacted immediately, accusing the U.S. decision of being “absurd and illogical” and saying it would respond with reciprocal measures.
A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday night that Russia would respond on a reciprocal basis, RFI’s Daniel Vallot reported from Moscow on Wednesday (March 3, 2021). However, it will be a few days before the specific response taken by Moscow is known.
Russia remains in its established position, refusing to acknowledge the poisoning of Navalny and condemning the West for interfering in its internal affairs. A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that everything was a pretext, aimed at malicious attacks and anti-Russian.
Russian authorities previously anticipated sanctions and also expected a hardening of U.S. relations with Russia after Biden‘s election as president. For now, the U.S. decision announced on the Navalny affair corresponds to the position taken by Brussels: both are individual sanctions against officials in charge of the security services and the presidential administration. No members of Russia’s pro-Putin oligarchy were targeted. Instead, Navalny and his supporters are calling for sanctions against financial oligarchs to really weaken the power of the Russian authorities. At the moment, this is not working for either Brussels or Washington.
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