The US has announced sanctions on Russians over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The sanctions will target seven senior Russian officials and 14 entities involved in chemical production, US officials told reporters.
They said US intelligence had concluded that the Russian government was behind the near-fatal nerve agent attack on Navalny in Siberia last year.
He is the most high-profile critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow denies involvement in his poisoning and disputes the conclusion, by Western weapons experts, that the nerve agent Novichok was used.
What did the US officials say?
Speaking to reporters during a conference call, they said the measures were being co-ordinated with the European Union, which is expected to announce similar steps.
They are the first sanctions imposed on Russia by the administration of President Joe Biden.
He has taken a tougher stance than his predecessor Donald Trump towards President Putin.
After phoning his Russian counterpart last month, Mr Biden said he had made it clear the days of the US “rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyber-attacks, poisoning citizens are over”.
Who is Alexei Navalny?
An anti-corruption campaigner, he has long been the most prominent face of Russian opposition to Mr Putin’s rule.
The 44-year-old blogger has millions of followers on social media. He managed to get some of his supporters elected to councils in Siberia in 2020.
Navalny was poisoned and fell into a coma during a flight to Siberia last August. He was airlifted to Germany, where he recovered. In January he decided to return to Russia and was arrested on arrival.
A court last month found that Navalny had violated the terms of his probation over an earlier embezzlement case. His suspended sentence was turned into an actual prison term of two-and-a-half years.
Last week he was sent from detention in Moscow to a penal colony to serve out the sentence.
President Biden and EU leaders have called for his immediate release.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Is Anthony Odiong still a priest after life in prison sentence over rape?")