“Suffice it to say,” added the official, “we will not stand idly by these human rights abuses.”
Navalny’s poisoning by Russian security forces last August and his recent arrest in Moscow were considered urgent enough to warrant a response, even though the broader review of US-Russia policy – launched by the government in January – is still in progress. , people said alongside the internal discussions.
Several Russian experts said the United States should not wait to respond, especially after a Russian court opened the way last week for Navalny to be transferred to a penal colony.
“They are right to do this broader review, but in Navalny they should act sooner,” said Daniel Fried, who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs at the State Department from 2005 to 2009.
“I don’t think we can stop [Russian President] Putin to send Navalny to a penal colony, ”said Fried. “But, acting quickly now, it is at least in Putin’s calculations that the United States is willing to act.”
Navalny, 44, was poisoned last August with the nervous agent Novichok, a lethal substance considered a chemical weapon banned by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The Kremlin denied involvement, but the State Department publicly attributed the attack to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in December. After months of treatment in Germany, Navalny recovered and flew home to Moscow, where he was promptly arrested for breaking the terms of a parole agreement. He was sentenced to nearly three years in prison earlier this month, sparking massive protests across Russia and condemnation by the international community.
It is not the first time that Russian security forces have attempted to assassinate Putin’s enemies using Novichok. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer who served as a double agent for the British, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned with the substance in March 2018 in England. In December, Navalny tricked an FSB agent into detailing the plot against him, which involved planting Novichok in the underwear of the opposition leader.
Although Russia’s broader review of the National Security Council has not yet been completed, the Biden government is not starting from scratch on the Navalny issue – it inherited a comprehensive sanction package from the previous government, which was delivered during the transition process, two of the people familiar with the transition said.
The package proposed three types of sanctions: sanctions under the Magnitsky Act on individuals who detained Navalny; sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and War Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act); and sanctions under Executive Order 13382 – which “aims to freeze the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters,” according to the State Department. Trump’s sanctions package also proposed to revoke certain visas from Russian officials and restrict the export of certain dual-use items to Russia that could be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.
It is not clear why the sanctions proposal, which former officials said was ready to pass in early January, stalled at the end of Trump’s term. But the former president was notoriously reluctant to penalize the Kremlin or confront Vladimir Putin directly, and the sanctions package would require his approval.
However, the new administration chooses to respond, it is unlikely to use the exact project left by Trump’s national security team. The current National Security Council sees this package as excessively unilateral and not in line with Biden’s commitment to work more closely with US partners in major foreign policy movements, two officials said.
Still, the United States has fallen behind on this issue. In response to Navalny’s poisoning last year, the European Union sanctioned six Russians and a state scientific institute in October, and this week announced its intention to sanction four additional Russian officers for Navalny’s treatment.
Ryan Tully, who served as Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs at the NSC for the past six months under the Trump administration, said U.S. sanctions will be an important next step – along with work to end Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline. functioning export from Russia to Europe via the Baltic Sea, on which Biden has so far resisted the imposition of further sanctions. Germany, in particular, is optimistic about Nord Stream 2, complicating multilateral action, especially as the U.S. tries to restore relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after strained relations in the Trump era.
“Sanctioning Russia using the CBW Act, Magnitsky Act and / or EO 13382, for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, is an important step because it reinforces the global standard against the use of chemical weapons,” said Tully. “Ultimately, these tools are not going to change Putin’s calculation or behavior. Placing a bet at the heart of Nord Stream 2 could, and would, drain billions from Putin’s coffers. “