US preparing fresh sanctions against Russia over Alexei Navalny poisoning: White House

Jailed opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was arrested in January upon returning to Russia after recovering from a poisoning

National security adviser Jake Sullivan noted that the US has already sanctioned Russia for the poisoning, but ‘we are preparing another package of sanctions’

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in January. Photo: Navalny team Youtube page / AFP

Published: 3:59am, 21 Jun 2021Updated: 8:22am, 21 Jun 2021

The United States is preparing fresh sanctions against Russia over the near-fatal poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, a top White House adviser warned on Sunday.

Jailed opposition leader Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, was arrested in January upon returning to Russia after recovering from a poisoning he says was orchestrated by Moscow.

Diplomatic relations between Moscow and Washington have soured since President Joe Biden took office in January.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan. Photo: AFP via Getty Images / TNS

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted on Sunday that the US has already sanctioned Russia for “the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.”

“We rallied European allies in a joint effort to impose costs on Russia for the use of a chemical agent against one of their citizens on Russian soil,” he told CNN’s State of the Union programme.

But he said “We are preparing another package of sanctions to apply in this case … We’ve shown along the way we’re not going to pull our punches.”

Moscow pushed back against the possibility of new sanctions and warned of a Russian response.

“The illegal actions of the United States have always been followed by a legitimate response from us,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.