US and UK punish Russians allegedly involved in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexej Navalny a year ago.
According to the British and Americans, the Russian security service FSB was behind the poisoning, according to Navalny, President Putin himself was the principal. The Russians now being punished will be subject to travel restrictions and will no longer be able to access properties under US and British jurisdiction.
FSB members
In March The US has already punished seven Russians, 13 Russian companies and a Russian government institution for being involved in the development of the nerve agent novichok, which nearly killed Navalny last year.
Now nine more Russians and two legal entities are added. Eight of those Russians are said to be members of the FSB.
“The poisoning was a shocking violation of international rule against the use of chemical weapons and part of a campaign to silence dissident voices in Russia,” said the responsible director of the US Treasury Department.
The British punish seven Russians. Almost certainly the seven are also on the US sanctions list. They were “directly responsible for the planning and execution of the attack”, according to the British Foreign Office. The British have also previously imposed sanctions on Russians for the poisoning of Navalny.
Call Navalny
Navalny himself calls on Western countries to pressure authoritarian leaders like President Putin, by confronting them about corruption in their country, “even when it gets uncomfortable.” He writes that from prison in a letter that was published today in newspapers. According to him, corruption is the cause of all major crises in the world.
According to him, the West is partly responsible for corruption. “In 90 percent of the cases, stolen money is stored in the West. An official who works for an autocrat knows better than anyone how important it is to keep his capital far away from his colleagues and boss,” writes Navalny.
According to him, the West should force companies to be more transparent when they do business with authoritarian and corrupt countries. He also wants an international body against corruption to be set up in order to fight it effectively. “It doesn’t take soldiers or tons of money,” Navalny writes, “just political will.”
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