US officials had been working on a new sanctions package for Russia ahead of last week’s death of Alexey Navalny, and are now supplementing them in the wake of the opposition leader’s death, according to a senior US official.
The package will be timed around the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and officials are coordinating with European partners on the new package, the official said.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday the new measures would be a “substantial package” that covers a wide range of elements linked to the Russian defense industrial base and sources of revenue for the Russian economy that power the country’s “war machine.”
Sullivan described the package as “another turn of the crank” after withering Western sanctions on Moscow since the start of the Ukraine war.
While those sanctions have hampered Russia’s economy, they haven’t deterred President Vladimir Putin from proceeding with the invasion.
Existing sanctions have “isolated” Russia on the world stage, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said aboard Air Force One Tuesday. American assistance has degraded the country’s military, she said.
Jean-Pierre said the White House was being careful in detailing the exact parameters of the sanctions to avoid capital flight before the punishments are in place.
President Joe Biden plans to confer with fellow G7 leaders on a conference call Friday timed around the anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war.
