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3/3/2021

Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials in Response to the Novichok Poisoning of Aleksey Navalny | U.S. Department of th…

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials in Response to the
Novichok Poisoning of Aleksey Navalny
March 2, 2021

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s O ice of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) joined the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce in imposing sanctions in
response to Russia’s poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of Russian opposition figure
Aleksey Navalny. Specifically, OFAC designated seven Russian government o icials: Federal
Security Service (FSB) Director Aleksandr Bortnikov (Bortnikov), Chief of the Presidential
Policy Directorate Andrei Yarin (Yarin), First Deputy Chief of Sta of the Presidential Executive
O ice Sergei Kiriyenko (Kiriyenko), Deputy Minister of Defense Aleksey Krivoruchko
(Krivoruchko), Deputy Minister of Defense Pavel Popov (Popov), Federal Penitentiary Service
(FSIN) director Alexander Kalashnikov (Kalashnikov), and Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov
(Krasnov) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13661 for serving as o icials of the Russian
government. OFAC also designated Bortnikov pursuant to E.O. 13382 for acting or
purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Federal Security Service (FSB).
“The Kremlin’s use of chemical weapons to silence a political opponent and intimidate
others demonstrates its flagrant disregard for international norms,” stated Secretary Janet L.
Yellen. “We join the EU in condemning Alexei Navalny’s poisoning as well as his arrest and
imprisonment by the Russian government.”

FSB OF F ICERS POISONED NAVALNY W ITH A NOVICHOK
NERVE AGENT
On August 24, 2020, German doctors announced that Navalny had been poisoned with a
substance that analysis by German, French, Swedish, and Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-designated laboratories later identified as a Novichok nerve
agent. Novichok nerve agents were created by the former Soviet Union, and Russia is the
only known country to have used these chemical weapons. Russia previously used a
Novichok nerve agent in the March 2018 attempted assassination of former Russian military
intelligence o icer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, United Kingdom. In response, OFAC
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sanctioned several Russian persons associated with the Skripal attack, under multiple
authorities, and also implemented prohibitions pursuant to the Chemical and Biological
Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.
The United States believes that the FSB used a nerve agent to poison Navalny, who fell
gravely ill on August 20, 2020 while traveling a er campaigning against pro-Kremlin
candidates in regional elections held in September 2020. Navalny has for many years been
the target of FSB surveillance, including wiretapping and covert video surveillance.
The European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) have similarly stated that Navalny has
been the target of systematic harassment and repression by state and judicial actors due to
his prominent role in the political opposition, and was under surveillance at the time of his
poisoning. Given that the toxic agent with which Navalny was poisoned is only accessible to
Russian state authorities, the EU and UK concluded that the poisoning was only possible
with the involvement of the FSB.

TREASURY ACTIONS
Today’s Treasury action complements today’s EU actions as well as those taken in October
2020 by the EU and the United Kingdom, which imposed sanctions on senior Russian
government o icials and a Russian state research institute for their involvement in the
poisoning of Navalny.
Andrei Yarin is the chief of the Kremlin’s domestic policy directorate. In this function, he is in
charge of designing and implementing internal political orientations. Yarin was appointed to
a task force inside the Presidential Executive O ice whose role was to counter Navalny’s
influence in Russian society, including through operations meant to discredit him.
Sergei Kiriyenko is the First Deputy Chief of Sta of the Presidential Executive O ice.
Kiriyenko is reported to be President Putin’s “domestic policy curator.”
Aleksei Krivoruchko is a Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. Krivoruchko
was previously the chief executive o icer of U.S.-designated Kalashnikov Concern. In his role
as Deputy Defense Minister, Krivoruchko has overall responsibility for armaments, including
oversight of the Ministry’s stocks of weapons and military equipment.
Pavel Popov is a Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. In his capacity as
Defense Minister, Popov is responsible for research activities that include oversight and
development of the Defense Ministry’s scientific and technical capabilities.
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Alexander Bortnikov is the Director of the FSB. As Russia’s internal intelligence service, the
FSB is involved in the political prosecutions of opponents of President Vladimir Putin’s
regime, and operates as a key political enforcer. OFAC has previously sanctioned the FSB
pursuant to E.O. 13694, as amended by E.O. 13757, as well as Section 224 of the Countering
America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), for malicious cyber activities.
Alexander Kalashnikov is the director of the FSIN. The FSIN accused Navalny of violating
the terms of his parole while he was recovering in Germany following his poisoning, sought
his arrest, and requested that Navalny’s suspended sentence be converted into an actual
prison term.
Igor Krasnov is Russia’s Prosecutor General. The Prosecutor General’s o ice has prosecuted
Navalny and has pushed for his incarceration.
All seven of these o icials were designated pursuant to E.O. 13661 for serving as o icials of
the Russian government. In addition, Bortnikov was designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 for
acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the FSB.
President Putin’s envoy to the Siberian Federal District, Sergei Menyailo, was also designated
by the EU and the UK in October 2020 for his involvement in the Navlany poisoning.
Menyailo was previously designated by OFAC on June 20, 2014 pursuant to E.O. 13361 for
being responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security,
stability, sovereignty and, or territorial integrity of Ukraine.

STATE ACTIONS
Today, the Department of State designated the FSB, GosNIIOKhT, the 33rd TsNIII, the
27th Scientific Center, the GRU, and GRU o icers Alexander Yevgeniyevich Mishkin
and Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga pursuant to Section 1(a)(ii) of E.O. 13382 for having
engaged, or attempted to engage, in activities or transactions that have materially
contributed to, or pose a risk of materially contributing to, the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction or their means of delivery (including missiles capable of delivering such
weapons), including any e orts to manufacture, acquire, possess, develop, transport,
transfer or use such items, by Russia. GosNIIOKhT was previously sanctioned by the EU and
the UK in October 2020. The Department of State also added six entities to the Countering
America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act Section 231 List of Specified Persons, as
persons that are part of, or operate for or on behalf of, the defense or intelligence sectors of
the Government of the Russian Federation. Finally, the Department of State implemented
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financial prohibitions pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare
Elimination Act of 1991.
View the Department of State’s fact sheet and statement on today’s actions.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of Treasury’s actions, all property and interests in property of these persons that
come within the possession of U.S. persons are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally
prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Additionally, any entities 50 percent or
more owned by one or more designated persons are also blocked. Moreover, any foreign
person who knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or transactions for or on behalf of
one of these persons risks being sanctioned.
View identifying information on the individuals designated today.
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