US officials had been working on a new sanctions package for Russia before the death of Alexey Navalny last week, and are now supplementing it in the wake of the opposition leader's death, according to a senior US official.
The package will be timed around the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and officials are coordinating with European partners on the new package, the official said.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that the new measures would be a “substantial package” covering a wide range of items linked to the Russian defense industrial base and sources of revenue for the Russian economy that They drive the country's “war machine.”
Sullivan described the package as “another turn of the screw” after withering Western sanctions against Moscow since the start of the Ukraine war.
While those sanctions have hampered Russia's economy, they have not deterred President Vladimir Putin from proceeding with the invasion.
Existing sanctions have “isolated” Russia on the world stage, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday aboard Air Force One. U.S. assistance has degraded the country's military, she said.
Jean-Pierre said the White House was being careful in detailing the exact parameters of the sanctions to prevent capital flight before the sanctions take effect.
President Joe Biden plans to meet other G7 leaders in a conference call on Friday to coincide with the anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war.
