BERLIN, GERMANY – JANUARY 23: Protesters hold up a banner that says “FREE NAVALNY” as around 2,500 supporters of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny march in protest to demand his release from prison in Moscow on January 23, 2021 in Berlin , Germany. Protesters marched from the federal chancellery through the Russian embassy to the Brandenburg Gate, in part also in response to Navalny’s call to protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny, who was arrested earlier this week after returning from Moscow to Germany, called for protests against Putin across Russia, although Russian officials have refused to allow and considered the protests illegal. Berlin is home to a large Russian expat community. (Photo by Omer Messinger / Getty Images)
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The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden, asks the United States to impose sanctions on dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials, whom it accuses of political persecution, human rights abuses and corruption.
Vladimir Ashkurov, who heads the Russian nonprofit founded by Navalny, told reporters on Saturday that he sent the letter to key Biden government officials, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and secretary Treasury Officer Janet Yellen.
The request for sanctions came after tens of thousands of protesters took part in protests across the country last weekend, after Navalny was arrested as soon as he returned from Germany to Russia.
Navalny spent months recovering in Berlin after being poisoned by a nervous agent. The opposition leader blames President Vladimir Putin’s government for his poisoning.
“For years, Alexey Navalny has defended sanctions against individuals who play important roles in helping and encouraging Putin and who take the lead in persecuting those who seek to express their opinions freely and expose corruption in the system,” says the letter.
“The existing sanctions do not reach enough of the right people. The West must sanction decision makers who have adopted it as a national policy to defraud elections, steal the budget and poison.”
The letter includes a list of 35 Putin associates, including billionaire businessmen Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov, Oleg Deripaska and Gennady Timchenko, as well as several government ministers.
The United Kingdom and the European Union imposed sanctions on several Russians in response to Navalny’s poisoning last year. The United States has yet to do the same, although members of Congress have called on former President Donald Trump to do so.
Biden asked Putin to release Navalny on a private phone call with the Russian president. The White House also ordered the United States intelligence community to analyze the Kremlin’s alleged involvement in Navalny’s poisoning.
“He did not hesitate to express his concern about the treatment of Alexei Navalny and the protesters,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on January 28.
In an unexpected speech by Putin on January 27 at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum, the Russian president warned of an “all against all” struggle if global tensions and the coronavirus pandemic are not resolved.