Russia Warns of Retaliation Against U.S. and EU Sanctions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warns of a Russian response to U.S. sanctions (Wikimedia Commons).

Russia warned on March 2 that it plans to retaliate against the United States for imposing sanctions on seven Russian officials and export controls on 14 parties involved in chemical and biological production. The U.S. imposed the restrictions after intelligence concluded that officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in August, a charge the Kremlin denies.

The list of sanctioned officials includes Russia’s federal prison administrator, Russia's prosecutor-general, Putin’s first deputy chief of staff, two deputy ministers of defense, the chief of the Kremlin’s domestic policy directorate, and the FSB Director.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement, “The Kremlin’s use of chemical weapons to silence a political opponent and intimidate others demonstrates its flagrant disregard for international norms.”

The same day, the European Union imposed sanctions on four senior Russian officials in response to Navalny’s imprisonment and the repression of his supporters. The EU sanctioned six Russian officials and a state research institute in October immediately following Navalny’s poisoning.

Moscow, which denies responsibility for the attacks, condemned the sanctions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, “We will respond without fail… Reciprocity, which is one of the rules of diplomacy, has not been annulled.”

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, conveyed a similar message in her statement: “Taking into account how [the United States is] behaving now, how they published all the [sanction] lists, I think we will surprise them soon, as well. We are working on it.”

Leonid Volkov, a top aide for Navalny, supports the EU sanctions as a good first step but encourages further measures. He argues, “What would really create leverage against Putin would be sanctioning the close circle of his oligarchs.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the sanctions only targeted people with direct connections to Navalny’s arrest, but Volkov asserts that Putin’s close circle of oligarchs have direct connections to the incident.