WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) A bipartisan group of US senators introduced a bill calling for targeted sanctions against Russian officials over alleged poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of opposition activist Alexey Navalny, Senator Marco Rubio announced.
The bill, dubbed Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act, was first drafted last September and is being resubmitted after a Moscow court canceled Navalny's suspended sentence for the 2014 fraud case and replaced it with 3.5 years prison sentence because of him violating probation.
Apart from imposing sanctions on officials for being complicit in "brazen violations of international law," the legislation also directs the White House to determine if "the Kremlin has violated US laws prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons."
In addition, the bill calls for compiling reports on the assassination of Russia's former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov in 2015 and on the personal wealth of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his "inner circle."
The bill was introduced by six senators - Marco Rubio, Chris Coons, Ben Cardin, Mitt Romney, Chris Van-Hollen and Dick Durbin.
Navalny was taken in custody last month upon returning to Russia from Germany where he received medical treatment following a suspected poisoning in Siberia. Germany has claimed that its health officials found evidence of poisoning - traces of a nerve agent from the Novichok group - in Navalny's organism. Russian authorities have consistently rejected the findings and requested for the evidence to be shared with them but without success.
