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Alexei Navalny
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The US is imposing sanctions on Russia in the case of the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
This was announced by US government officials, according to consistent reports.
The US secret services have come to the conclusion with a high degree of certainty that employees of the Russian secret service FSB had carried out the attack on Navalny with a neurotoxin from the Novichok group, said a US government representative, according to the Reuters news agency.
According to the AP news agency, the US now wants to impose punitive measures against a total of 14 companies that are involved in the production of chemical and biological agents.
At first it was not known exactly which companies are affected.
The EU had previously implemented its threats against Russia: Because of Navalny's arrest, sanctions were imposed on high state officials.
The Russian attorney general Igor Krasnow and the head of the central investigation committee Alexander Bastrykin are affected.
In addition, the punitive measures are directed against the head of the prison service, Alexander Kalashnikov, and the commander of the National Guard, Viktor Solotov.
A corresponding legal act was passed in writing on Tuesday and, according to the dpa news agency, will soon be published in the EU Official Journal.
A new sanction instrument created last year was used for the first time to impose the punitive measures.
This makes it possible to freeze existing assets in the EU of actors who commit serious human rights violations or who benefit from them.
In addition, among other things, entry bans into the European Union are imposed.
Russia calls sanctions ineffective
Russia reacted promptly to the announced new sanctions - and described them as ineffective.
It is time to think about whether this policy is effective, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Interfax agency.
"The answer is obvious: this policy is not achieving its goals."
Moscow repeatedly emphasizes that it will not be impressed by the sanctions imposed by the EU and the USA in the wake of numerous conflicts.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced counter-sanctions.
US sanctions mean policy change
The US sanctions mark the first punitive measures against Russia since President Joe Biden took office.
The move marks a clear departure from the Russia policy of its predecessor.
Ex-US President Donald Trump was accused of indulgence in relation to Putin.
Biden had described the February arrest of Navalny as "politically motivated."
The opposition politician Navalny was sentenced to camp detention in Moscow at the beginning of February.
He is said to have violated probation requirements several times in an earlier criminal case in 2014 for fraud and misappropriation of funds.
The EU considers the judgment inadmissible because Navalny had to be treated in Germany for several months after a nerve poison attack on him.
She suspects that the opposition politician should be politically sidelined.
The 44-year-old is said to have been transferred to the Pokrov penal colony around 100 kilometers east of Moscow in the Vladimir region.
However, there has not yet been any official confirmation.
Because of the attack on Navalny on August 20, 2020, the EU had already imposed entry and property bans on people suspected of being responsible in the vicinity of President Vladimir Putin last year.
In Brussels, it is assumed that state authorities in Russia are behind the attack.
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as / fek / dpa
