Additional sanctions were being prepared by the United States against Russia, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser revealed on Sunday in the light of the recent poisoning of Aleksei A. Navalny of the opposition party following the first summit between Biden and Russia’s Vladimir V. Putin.
“We are preparing another package of sanctions to apply in this case,”national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union”.
He said that the measure would be applied “as soon as we develop the packages to ensure that we’re getting the right targets,” although remained unclear regarding the sanction’s timing.
“When we do that, we will impose further sanctions with respect to chemical weapons,” he said.
The first sanctions against Russia were imposed by the US last April for the poisoning and detaining Navalny. Those actions, however, were not pointed specifically towards Putin and the people who back him.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that there was no importance on the timing of the national security adviser’s comments.
“The law requires we keep looking at sanctions targets connected to chemical weapons use,” Psaki said. She stressed “no change from before the summit to after the summit.”
The two countries’ leaders said their face-to-face summit was a positive one.
Following the talks, Biden said that he clarified the results Russia would face if Navalny will die in prison.
“I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Biden said.
In another news briefing, he clarified that “there has been no hostility.”
“On the contrary, our meeting took place in a constructive spirit,” Biden said.
