Russia Warns US: Don’t Play With Fire

The United States on Tuesday announced sanctions against the director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and six others linked to the near-fatal poisoning of a nerve-paralyzing substance by prominent Kremlin critic A. Navaln and their subsequent imprisonment.

Washington coordinated with the European Union after US intelligence concluded that Moscow had directed the Navaln poisoning in August.

“We will continue to defend our national interests in a systematic and resolute manner and to reject aggression,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. Echoing the comments of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, he added that Moscow would react on the basis of “reversibility and not necessarily symmetry.”

Ms. Zakharova accused the United States of “trying to develop the image of an external enemy” and thus diverting attention from internal problems.

“We urge our colleagues not to play with fire,” he said in a statement released Tuesday night.

The targeted sanctions announced Tuesday show a tougher stance on US President Joe Biden and complement a string of US and European Union sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014, when Moscow seceded from Ukraine and annexed Crimea.

Navaln was flown to Germany for treatment after the poisoning, but returned to Russia in January and was immediately arrested and later sent to a correctional colony.

Among the targets of the new US sanctions on Russia is the head of the FSB.

The United States on Tuesday announced sanctions against the director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and six others linked to the near-fatal poisoning of a nerve-paralyzing substance by prominent Kremlin critic A. Navaln and their subsequent imprisonment.

The Treasury Department said FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, who has been in charge of the agency since 2008, the successor to the Soviet KGB, will have assets under US jurisdiction frozen and any US entity with business ties to the official could be processed. Furthermore, Bortnikov has been banned from entering the United States.

The same measures will apply to Sergei Kirijenko, First Deputy Administrator of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Alexei Krivoruchka and Pavel Popov, Deputy Defense Ministers, Alexander Kalashnikov, Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), Interior Prosecutor Igor Krasnov, Attorney General, and

The Treasury Department also noted that the list of entities subject to sanctions also included three Russian institutes: the 27th Science Center under the Ministry of Defense and the 33rd Central Research and Testing Institute, as well as the State Research Institute of Technology and Organic Chemistry. Institute.

The report states that these organizations “participated or attempted to participate in actions or transactions that promoted the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their means of proliferation, or that posed a risk of such promotion.”

“The US government has used its powers to send a clear signal that Russia’s use of chemical weapons and human rights abuses will have serious consequences,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

“Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and contrary to international standards,” he added.

Navaln, 44, was arrested in January as soon as he returned to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for several months for poisoning with the nerve-paralyzing substance Noviciok, according to an opposition executed on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the Kremlin denies having anything to do with the incident.

A wave of mass protests erupted in the country after law enforcement detained an opposition leader who had just returned to Moscow in mid-January.

Western leaders condemned his arrest and called for his immediate release.

Coordination is ES

On Monday, the US media announced that the administration of President Joe Biden, in coordination with the European Union, intends to issue sanctions on Russia for the poisoning and imprisonment of Navaln.

These sanctions are the first U.S. restrictions on Russia since the start of the Biden administration. The new president has vowed to retaliate against Putin for actions such as Russia’s persecution of the opposition or cyberattacks abroad, including US government companies and services.

Earlier Tuesday, EU sanctions also went into effect for Russian officials involved in Navaln’s imprisonment. They will apply to the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastyrkin, the head of the National Guard Viktor Zolotov, the Attorney General I. Krasnov and the director of the FSIN A. Kalashnikov.

These people will be barred from entering the Community and all their assets under EU jurisdiction will be frozen.

Last October, the EU imposed sanctions on six people and the Russian State Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology in connection with the Navaln poisoning.

At that time, restrictive measures were imposed on A. Bortnikov, A. Jarin, S. Kirijenka, A. Krivorochka, P. Popov and Sergei Meniaila, Plenipotentiary of the President in the Siberian Federal District.

The Kremlin has always denied responsibility for Navaln’s “deteriorating health” and on Tuesday raised the question of what the West wants to achieve with its sanctions.

“The answer will be obvious: such a policy will not achieve its objectives,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a visit to Uzbekistan, warned that Russia would retaliate and stressed that one of the rules of diplomacy is the “principle of reciprocity.”