- Britain has placed sanctions on seven Russian intelligence operatives they claim are responsible for the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny
- Moscow earlier denied such findings, accusing the West of a smear campaign
- On the first anniversary of the poisoning, the British identified seven Russians they claim participated in the poisoning
LONDON, England: Britain has placed sanctions on seven Russian intelligence operatives they claim are responsible for the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
After being poisoned in Russia on August 20, 2020 by what Western experts concluded was the military nerve agent Novichok, Navalny was flown to Germany for medical treatment.
Moscow earlier denied such findings, accusing the West of a smear campaign.
On the first anniversary of the poisoning, the British identified seven Russians they claim participated in the poisoning.
“The sanctioned individuals are directly responsible for planning or carrying out the attack on Mr. Navalny,” a Foreign Office statement said.
Further, British foreign minister Dominic Raab warned Russia, “We are sending a clear message that any use of chemical weapons by the Russian state violates international law, and a transparent criminal investigation must be held.”
The document listed Alexey Alexandrov, Vladimir Panyaev, Ivan Osipov, Vladimir Bogdanov, Kirill Vasilyev, Stanislav Makshakov and Alexei Sedov.
The British said the Russians are members of Russia’s FSB security service and were involved in the poisoning.
The document noted that some of the Russians were present in the Siberian city of Tomsk at the time of the poisoning.
For the others, the British said they had “responsibility for, provided support for, or promoted the actions of the operatives who carried out the operation”.
“We call on Russia to comply fully with the Chemical Weapons Convention, including its obligations to declare and dismantle its chemical weapons programme,” the joint statement said.
“We remain determined to uphold the global norm against the use of chemical weapons.”
