Biden administration sanctions Russia over Navalny poisoning and arrest

The Biden administration announced new penalties on Russia on Tuesday in response to the poisoning and jailing of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in President Joe Biden’s first major step in holding Moscow accountable for human rights abuses.

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded with high confidence that Navalny was poisoned last year with a banned nerve agent called Novichok by the Russian security services, the administration revealed on Tuesday. Navalny received treatment for the poisoning in Germany and was arrested upon his return to Russia in January.