Team Biden Weighs Fresh Sanctions on Russia for Poisoning and Jailing Navalny
Trump doubted that the Kremlin had anything to do at all with the attempt on the opposition leader’s life. The Biden administration has no such questions.
Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty
U.S. officials are weighing whether to implement sanctions against Russian individuals and groups connected to the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to three individuals familiar with the matter.
Hitting Russia with fresh sanctions over Navalny would be a clear break from how former President Donald Trump handled the matter. In private and in public, he doubted that the Kremlin had anything to do at all with the attempt on Navalny’s life.
The discussions about levying sanctions are part of a broader conversation between officials at the State and Treasury departments, as well as the National Security Council, about how and whether to respond to recent Russian malign activities, including the Solarwinds cyberhack, bounties put on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election, those sources said.
