The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Russian operatives believed to be responsible for the poisoning of Russian opposition politician, Aleksey Navalny, according to government officials. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against individuals involved in the attack. The Russian operation against Navalny reportedly involved operatives working on the ground in Tomsk and Omsk, as well as remote coordinators.
The poisoning incident occurred on August 20, 2020, when Navalny fell seriously ill during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, and Navalny received treatment at a local hospital. The US government contends that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers used the nerve agent Novichok to poison Navalny. Novichok is a Soviet-era chemical weapon, with Russia being the only known country to have employed it.
The operation involved multiple individuals who surveilled Navalny before the attack, broke into his hotel room to apply the nerve agent, and later attempted to cover up their tracks. The US Treasury’s recent sanctions target several individuals connected to the poisoning. Alexey Alexandrovich Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov, and Vladimir Alexandrovich Panyaev have all been sanctioned under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012. These individuals are accused of acting as agents in extrajudicial killings, torture, and gross human rights violations committed against those exposing illegal activities by Russian officials.
Most of these individuals are reportedly associated with the FSB Criminalistics Institute, a specialized laboratory under the FSB. The institute was previously designated under Executive Order (E.O.) 13382 for its connection to the FSB. Alexey Alexandrovich Alexandrov, considered one of the main perpetrators in Navalny’s poisoning, had also surveilled another anti-corruption activist, Nikita Isaev, who died on a train in 2019. Konstantin Kudryavtsev, another operative from the FSB Criminalistics Institute, admitted his involvement in the cleanup operation following Navalny’s poisoning and had surveillance involvement with another Russian opposition politician critical of President Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In addition to the Treasury’s sanctions, the Department of State has announced visa restrictions against Alexandrov, Kudryavtsev, Osipov, and Panyaev under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. This move bars these individuals and their immediate families from entering the United States. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian E. Nelson, stated that these actions send a clear message to Russia that there are consequences for human rights violations and the poisoning of opposition figures.
The penalties imposed by the US Treasury reflect global concern over Kremlin’s actions, including the poisoning of Navalny and Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. The international community continues to hold Russia accountable for these actions, aiming to protect human rights and address unlawful activities carried out by the government.
