The United States has expanded its sanctions against Russia over their use of chemical weapons to poison its own people.
The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security announced the expansion of sanctions on Wednesday morning, roughly two weeks after the secretary of state determined the Russian government used chemical or biological weapons against dissidents of Russia.
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The new sanctions will go into effect on Thursday and as such, the BIS will review licensing applications “under a presumption of denial for exports and reexports of items controlled for national security reasons that are destined for Russia.” The BIS will also suspend License Exceptions Servicing and Replacement Parts and Equipment, Technology and Software Unrestricted, and Additional Permissive Reexports for national security items destined for Russia, but there are a handful of exceptions.
“By deploying illegal nerve agents against dissidents, both inside and outside its borders, the Russian government has acted in flagrant violation of its commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention and has directly put its own citizens and those of other countries at mortal risk,” the department said in a statement. “The Department of Commerce is committed to preventing Russia from accessing sensitive U.S. technologies that might be diverted to its malign chemical weapons activities.”
In 2018, Russians deployed a Novichok nerve agent in an attack against former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the United Kingdom.
Then-President Donald Trump expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the U.S. in the wake of the Skripal poisoning as part of a wave of expulsions with European allies, though he was reportedly angered to learn that the U.S. booted dozens more than any other individual European country. The U.S. government also imposed two sets of sanctions against Russia pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act) in August 2018 and August 2019 at the time.
Last summer, the Russian government also used a Novichok nerve agent against dissident Alexei Navalny. He was treated in Germany after the poisoning and was arrested and ultimately convicted upon his return to Russia, having been accused of failing to meet his parole terms under a 2014 suspended sentence for embezzlement.
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The court rejected Navalny’s appeal but did reduce his sentence minimally. The arrest and appeal led to tens of thousands of protesters gathered throughout the country demanding Navalny's freedom, leading to thousands of arrests, including his wife, Yulia Navalny.
