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Second round of US sanctions against Russia over Navalny becomes effective

US introduces the restrictions on the permanent imports of certain Russian firearms

WASHINGTON, September 7. /TASS/. The US administration introduces new restrictions against Russia on Tuesday, September 7, over its alleged involvement in the incident with blogger Alexey Navalny. According to the US Department of State, Russia had allegedly violated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (the CBW Act) which became the legal base for the restrictions.

According to the US Department of State, the US introduces the restrictions on "the permanent imports of certain Russian firearms. New and pending permit applications for the permanent importation of firearms and ammunition manufactured or located in Russia will be subject to a policy of denial."

Additionally, new export restrictions are being introduced by the US Department of Commerce "on nuclear and missile-related goods and technology."

These sanctions also include "a continuation of measures imposed on March 2, 2021, as well as in 2018 and 2019 in response to the poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter, along with the waivers associated with these sanctions." Some restrictions introduced over the situation around Navalny replicate those related to the Skripal affair.

These sanctions "will remain in place for a minimum of 12 months." They may be lifted if the Russian side fulfills a number of requirements, including "providing reliable assurances that it will not use chemical weapons in violation of international law" and "is not making preparations to use chemical weapons in the future." Additionally, the US Department of State noted that Russia should be "willing to allow international inspectors to verify those assurances" and to make "restitution to Mr. Navalny."

Navalny was rushed to a local hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk on August 20, 2020 after collapsing on a Moscow-bound flight from Tomsk. Later, he was airlifted to Berlin and admitted to the Charite hospital. On September 2, Berlin claimed that having examined Navalny’s test samples, German government toxicologists had come to the conclusion that the blogger had been affected by a toxic agent belonging to the Novichok family. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeatedly emphasized that Russia was ready for comprehensive cooperation with Germany and pointed out that no poisonous substances had been detected in Navalny’s system prior to his transfer to Berlin.

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