2021-02-23 22:24:09
While the new National Security Council’s broader Russia review has yet to be completed, the Biden administration is not starting from scratch on the Navalny issue — it inherited a comprehensive sanctions package from the previous administration, which was handed over during the transition process, two of the people familiar with the transition said.
The package proposed three types of sanctions: Magnitsky Act sanctions on the individuals who detained Navalny; sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act); and sanctions under Executive Order 13382 — which is “aimed at freezing the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters,” according to the State Department. The Trump sanctions package also proposed revoking certain Russian officials’ visas and restricting the export of certain dual-use items to Russia that could be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.
It is not clear why the sanctions proposal, which former officials said was ready to go by early January, stalled at the end of Trump’s term. But the former president was notoriously reluctant to penalize the Kremlin or confront Vladimir Putin directly, and the sanctions package would have required his approval.
However the new administration chooses to respond, it is unlikely to use the exact blueprint left by Trump’s national security team. The current National Security Council views that package as overly unilateral and not in line with Biden’s commitment to working more closely with U.S. partners on major foreign policy moves, two officials said.
Still, the U.S. has lagged behind allies on this issue. In response to Navalny’s poisoning last year, the European Union sanctioned six Russians and a state-run scientific institute in October, and this week announced its intention to sanction four additional senior Russian officials over Navalny’s treatment.
Ryan Tully, who served as Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs on the NSC in the final six months of the Trump administration, said U.S. sanctions will be a key next step — along with working to end Nord Stream 2, an export gas pipeline running from Russia to Europe across the Baltic Sea that Biden has so far resisted imposing further sanctions on. Germany in particular is bullish on Nord Stream 2, complicating multilateral action, especially as the U.S. tries to repair relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following tense relations in the Trump era.
“Sanctioning Russia using the CBW Act, Magnitsky Act, and/or EO 13382, for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny is an important step in that it reinforces the global norm against chemical weapons use,” Tully said. “Ultimately, these tools won’t change Putin’s calculus or behavior however. Putting a stake in the heart of Nord Stream 2 could, and would, drain billions from Putin’s coffers.”
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