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President Joe Biden said today that the United States will announce a package of significant sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison.
Speaking to reporters as he left for a trip to California, Mr. Biden did not elaborate, but said he would provide more information on the package of measures on Friday.
Earlier, even the spokesman of the National Security Council of the White House, John Kirby, refused to give details on the new sanctions, referring to the policies of the US government. He also declined to say how the new measures would expand on tough sanctions that the United States and its allies have currently imposed on Russia in response to its attack on Ukraine.
Mr Kirby said the sanctions, which will coincide with the two-year anniversary of Russian aggression against Ukraine, will be "specially supplemented by additional sanctions related to the death of Mr Navalny".
Mr Kirby said the United States was not clear how Navalny died, but insisted that ultimately, the responsibility rested with Putin.
"Regardless of the scientific answer, Putin is responsible for this," Mr. Kirby told reporters.
He added that the US embassy in Moscow has requested more information about Navalny's death, "but it is difficult to get to a point where you can believe what the Russians are saying about his death."
The Treasury Department declined to comment on the details of the expected sanctions.
The Department's Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson is in Europe this week to continue work on sanctions against Russia, ahead of the two-year anniversary of its aggression against Ukraine.
"The imposition of unprecedented sanctions by the world coalition against the Russian war machine has caused setbacks in the Kremlin's efforts to supply and equip its military. President Biden recently expanded the Treasury Department's powers to target those who finance Russian war production capabilities, even if they are located or deployed in third countries, and the Treasury Department is keeping a close eye on those who try to avoid our sanctions," the Treasury Department said last week.
Political experts have come up with a number of proposals aimed at depleting Russia of the monetary funds needed to continue its aggression, ranging from confiscating Russian National Central Bank funds deposited mainly in Europe to lowering the ceiling of the price from the Group of Seven for Russian oil.
A February official document from Stanford University's International Working Group on Russian Sanctions calls for more severe sanctions on the Russian energy market, such as lowering the current ceiling on the price of oil produced in Russia from $60 to $30. as well as completion of the measures for the ban by the European Union and the G7 countries of purchases of Russian hydrocarbons./ VOA
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