WASHINGTON: The United States will announce new sanctions on Russia on Friday over the death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House said.
“At President Biden’s direction, we will be announcing a major sanctions package on Friday of this week to hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr.Navalny,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.
He said the sanctions would also be in response to “all its actions over the course of this vicious and brutal war that has now raged on for two years.”
Russia on Friday announced the death of Navalny, a persistent critic of President Vladimir Putin who survived a 2020 poisoning, at a remote prison in the Arctic where the anti-corruption campaigner was serving a 19-year sentence.
“Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear President Putin and his government are responsible,” Kirby said.
“Absent some credible investigation into his death,” Kirby said, “it’s hard to get to a point where we can just take the Russians’ word for it.”
“We’re calling for complete transparency by the Russian government for how he died.”
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US to announce new Russia sanctions after Navalny death
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US to announce new Russia sanctions after Navalny death
- “We will be announcing a major sanctions package on Friday of this week,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters
- “Absent some credible investigation into his death”
Venezuelan opposition leader Machado says a close ally was kidnapped hours after prison release
- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says one of her closest allies has been kidnapped hours after being released from prison
- The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions
CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Monday said one of her closest allies was kidnapped hours after being released from prison.
The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions.
Machado said on social media that Juan Pablo Guanipa was taken around midnight in a residential neighborhood of the capital, Caracas.
“Heavily armed men, dressed in civilian clothes, arrived in four vehicles and violently took him away,” she posted on X. “We demand his immediate release.”
The releases of the opposition figures came as the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez has faced mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked to their political activities. The releases also followed a visit to Venezuela of representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The government’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president after the Jan. 3 capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the US military. Her government began releasing prisoners days later.
Some of those freed Sunday joined families waiting outside prisons for their loved ones to be released. They chanted “We are not afraid! We are not afraid!” and marched a short distance.
“I am convinced that our country has completely changed,” Guanipa, a former governor, had told reporters hours after his release. “I am convinced that it is now up to all of us to focus on building a free and democratic country.”
Guanipa had spent more than eight months in custody.
The government had released several prominent opposition members from prison Sunday after lengthy politically motivated detentions.
Machado said on social media that Juan Pablo Guanipa was taken around midnight in a residential neighborhood of the capital, Caracas.
“Heavily armed men, dressed in civilian clothes, arrived in four vehicles and violently took him away,” she posted on X. “We demand his immediate release.”
The releases of the opposition figures came as the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez has faced mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked to their political activities. The releases also followed a visit to Venezuela of representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The government’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president after the Jan. 3 capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the US military. Her government began releasing prisoners days later.
Some of those freed Sunday joined families waiting outside prisons for their loved ones to be released. They chanted “We are not afraid! We are not afraid!” and marched a short distance.
“I am convinced that our country has completely changed,” Guanipa, a former governor, had told reporters hours after his release. “I am convinced that it is now up to all of us to focus on building a free and democratic country.”
Guanipa had spent more than eight months in custody.
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