The White House will announce ‘a major sanction package’ against Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold him accountable for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and for the two years of war in Ukraine.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby revealed on Tuesday that the new package would be unveiled this Friday. He declined to detail the sanctions or say how they would expand on the strigent sanctions that the U.S. and its allies have already put on Russia in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.
‘Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr. Navalny’s death,’ Kirby said. ‘In response and at President Biden’s direction, we will be announcing a major sanctions package on Friday of this week to hold Russia accountable.’
The new sanctions will fall on the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Navalny died in prison on Friday. His death, a month before Russia’s presidential election, shocked the world.
Russian authorities said that the cause of Navalny’s death at age 47 is still unknown and the results of any investigation are likely to be questioned abroad.
However, many Western leaders have already said they hold Putin responsible for the death.
Kirby said the U.S. had not determined how Navalny had died, but insisted that the ultimate responsibility for the death of the Russian opposition leader lies with Putin.
‘Regardless of the scientific answer, Putin’s responsible for it,’ he said.
Navalny’s widow vowed on Monday to continue his fight against the Kremlin, while authorities denied his mother access to a morgue where his body is believed to be held after his death.
He had been imprisoned since January 2021 when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
He received three prison terms since his arrest, on a number of charges he has rejected as politically motivated.
‘They are cowardly and meanly hiding his body, refusing to give it to his mother and lying miserably while waiting for the trace of’ poison to disappear, Navalnaya said, suggesting her husband might have been killed with a Novichok-style nerve agent.