US Imposes Sanctions, Visa Curbs On 4 Russians Linked To Poisoning Of Putin Critic Navalny

The US has imposed several sanctions and visa restrictions on four Russian operatives involved in the 2020 poisoning of Alexey Navalny.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on four Russians linked with the poisoning of Putin critic Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. This incident gained massive international coverage in 2020. According to a CNN report, the four operatives have been sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act "for having acted as agents of or on behalf of a person in a matter relating to extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by officials of the Government of the Russian Federation," according to the US Treasury Department, as per CNN. 

The four accused, Alexey Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Osipov, and Vladimir Panyaev had already been sanctioned under a different authority in August 2021. 

President Joe Biden’s administration imposed visa restrictions on them, blocking entry to the US for any of the four operatives and their immediate family members. 

"Today’s actions are a reminder that there are consequences for violating internationally recognized human rights. The United States will continue to use the authorities at our disposal to promote accountability for such egregious acts," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Thursday, as quoted by CNN. 

Navalny’s Poisoning 

Russian opposition leader Navalny collapsed on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow in August 2020. It was found that he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, a Soviet-era chemical weapon. He was medically evacuated to Germany where he was treated for it before returning to Russia in January 2021. He has been incarcerated in Russia since then, the report added. 

As per CNN, US Treasury Department said, "Kudryavtsev also reportedly was involved in surveillance of Russian opposition politician and Putin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza," who was detained in April 2022 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. 

Notably, Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison earlier this month on extremism charges, which the State Department condemned as "an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial".  

According to the State Department, Navalny is already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility, where "Russian authorities have repeatedly sent Navalny to solitary confinement, infringed upon his access to counsel, and denied him medical care".