U.S. expected to sanction Russians over Navalny poisoning - sources

[webfact]

U.S. expected to sanction Russians over Navalny poisoning - sources

By Arshad Mohammed and Humeyra Pamuk

 

FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny attends a hearing to consider an appeal against an earlier court decision to change his suspended sentence to a real prison term, in Moscow, Russia February 20, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is expected to impose sanctions as early as this week on Russians connected to the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, three sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

 

The sources declined to identify the targets or the legal authorities Washington would use to penalize them as it seeks to impose consequences for the poisoning of Navalny. He fell ill on a flight in Siberia last August and was airlifted to Germany, where doctors concluded he had been poisoned with a nerve agent.

 

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the possibility of sanctions.

 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump did nothing to punish Russian, which top U.N. human rights experts said on Monday was to blame for attempting to kill Navalny as part of a pattern of attacks on critics to quash dissent.

 

Many Western countries say Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent, but the Kremlin has denied any role in his illness and has said it has seen no proof that he was poisoned.

 

After his treatment in Germany, Navalny, 44, returned to Russia in January. He was arrested and later sentenced to more than 2-1/2 years in jail for parole violations that he said were trumped up.

 

Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden last month called the jailing of Navalny 'politically motivated' and called for his release. He has pledged a new and tough approach towards Moscow, saying the United States would no longer be 'rolling over' in the face of aggressive action by Russia.

 

Washington and Moscow disagree on a wide range of issues on top of Navalny, such as Russia's military ambitions in Ukraine and Georgia, as well as a cyberattack on U.S. government agencies last year that Washington blames on Russia.

 

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed and Humeyra Pamuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-02

 

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[Tug]

Good Putin deserves it I hope there is some way to punish him not the russan people 

[timendres]

Millions of Uyghurs, thousands of Falun Gong, Hong Kong imprisonments... yet not even a hint of sanctions where they are truly needed.

Edited March 2, 2021 by timendres

[Pedrogaz]

But not to sanction MbS? What stinking hypocrisy.

[Kwasaki]

Off they go again the OCD sanctions mob. 

[Morch]

7 hours ago, timendres said:

Millions of Uyghurs, thousands of Falun Gong, Hong Kong imprisonments... yet not even a hint of sanctions where they are truly needed.

 

Diplomacy is the art of the possible. Maybe someone said that. Going head on vs. China, in this manner, is not a viable proposition unless going all in. Given it being much harder to muster international support and weathering the consequences, maybe another approach or another day are better options.

 

5 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

But not to sanction MbS? What stinking hypocrisy.

 

Laying more sanctions on Russia/Russians on top of those already in place is not a big deal. Sanctions against the presumptive heir of an ally, and major economic player is quite another matter.

 

But speaking of hypocrisy - weren't you protesting criticism and interference in China's matters just a couple of days ago?

[timendres]

49 minutes ago, Morch said:

Diplomacy is the art of the possible. Maybe someone said that. Going head on vs. China, in this manner, is not a viable proposition unless going all in. Given it being much harder to muster international support and weathering the consequences, maybe another approach or another day are better options.

 

Well said. We have put so much capital into China, and have so many inter-dependencies, it is a minefield. The west needs to start executing a proper strategy with regards to the CCP, or the long term consequences could prove quite drastic. The signs are everywhere and clear.

[Morch]

2 minutes ago, timendres said:

 

Well said. We have put so much capital into China, and have so many inter-dependencies, it is a minefield. The west needs to start executing a proper strategy with regards to the CCP, or the long term consequences could prove quite drastic. The signs are everywhere and clear.

 

Saudi Arabia is pretty much the same, if to a lesser/more focused effect. A change, if it's indeed in the cards, won't come overnight, and would unlikely be dramatic, but incremental.

[Chomper Higgot]

8 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Saudi Arabia is pretty much the same, if to a lesser/more focused effect. A change, if it's indeed in the cards, won't come overnight, and would unlikely be dramatic, but incremental.

Not dramatic and incremental is good.

 

The world can do without a destabilized China and MBS (and his father) for all the ills is balancing calls for liberalization against the religious power groups in Saudi Arabia, perhaps somebody has concluded not destabilizing the power balance in Saudi Arabia is a good idea.

 

[Pique Dard]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

U.S. expected to sanction Russians over Navalny poisoning

sure? let me count, because this isn't the first time i read "the U.S. expected to sanction Russians" over this or that

[Morch]

1 minute ago, Pique Dard said:

sure? let me count, because this isn't the first time i read "the U.S. expected to sanction Russians" over this or that

 

There are various US sanctions in place vs. Russia and Russians on multiple issues. Same goes for European and UK ones.

[Pique Dard]

1 minute ago, Morch said:

 

There are various US sanctions in place vs. Russia and Russians on multiple issues. Same goes for European and UK ones.

and?

[Morch]

1 minute ago, Pique Dard said:

and?

 

And what? Thought your previous comment was to the effect that these do not exist or are only declared and not being followed through. If so, you're mistaken.

 

If your comment was about the effect of these sanctions - they do take their bite, but are not comprehensive enough to cripple Russia. For one thing, it's Russia, not some two-bit third world country, and on top this would require wider participation. Doubt there's an actual aim to bring Russia to its knees - that would require propping it up at some later point. If there's a later point.

[Pique Dard]

1 minute ago, Morch said:

but are not comprehensive enough to cripple Russia.

i rest my case

 

[Morch]

2 minutes ago, Pique Dard said:

i rest my case

 

 

You have no case. You simply quoted a bit of my post out context. This was addressed in my post. Bring Russia to it's knees and what then? All will be well? No risks involved? No danger of such destabilization going wrong or having negative effects?

[Chomper Higgot]

17 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

And what? Thought your previous comment was to the effect that these do not exist or are only declared and not being followed through. If so, you're mistaken.

 

If your comment was about the effect of these sanctions - they do take their bite, but are not comprehensive enough to cripple Russia. For one thing, it's Russia, not some two-bit third world country, and on top this would require wider participation. Doubt there's an actual aim to bring Russia to its knees - that would require propping it up at some later point. If there's a later point.

 

Many of the sanctions placed on Russia target Oligarchs and the businesses interests of Oligarchs who owe their wealth to Putin and in return hold Putin in power, often using the organizations they run to meet Putin’s objectives.

 

Its an incestuous relationship but one that has a weakness; threaten the wealth of enough of these Oligarchs in retaliation for doing Putin’s  bidding and eventually the math will force them to get rid of him, or at the very least will weaken the support Putin relies on.

 

Once again, removal, with the risk of destabilizing Russia is probably not the objective, a neutered ‘devil you know’ is almost certainly the preferred outcome.

 

 

 

 

[connda]

Headline should read: "US assists Russia in becoming completely independent from Western economies."  Closer to the truth. 

"Si vis pacem, para pactum" as Lavrov would state.

[connda]

8 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

But not to sanction MbS? What stinking hypocrisy.

Mohammed bin Salman is the USA's useful idiot.  Just concede that the US gave him a Double-O-Seven get out of jail free card.  Murder a political enemy and US resident and no sweat.  Sam's Your Uncle!

[from the home of CC]

11 hours ago, timendres said:

Millions of Uyghurs, thousands of Falun Gong, Hong Kong imprisonments... yet not even a hint of sanctions where they are truly needed.

they are determined based on potential monetary blowbacks or conversely the lack of them - mostly optics. 

[from the home of CC]

from what I understand much of movement of dirty money these days is through crypto - I would imagine it would be hard to initiate sanctions that would impede that..

[Morch]

14 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

they are determined based on potential monetary blowbacks or conversely the lack of them - mostly optics. 

 

Vague insinuations, without support, about corruption of some sort. Not much of an argument, but guess no better is on offer.

 

14 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

from what I understand much of movement of dirty money these days is through crypto - I would imagine it would be hard to initiate sanctions that would impede that..

 

If one is a true believer, yes. Otherwise, no reason to assume there's no way to track transactions. I'd bet good money (well, already there) the capability exists. The world is filled with broken unbreakable codes and so on.

[onthedarkside]

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