US imposes sanctions on four Russians linked to FSB over Navalny poisoning

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on four Russian individuals it accused of being involved in the 2020 poisoning of now jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said the four hit with sanctions are linked to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

The Treasury said the U.S. State Department will also announce related visa restrictions on Thursday.

“Today we remind Vladimir Putin and his regime that there are consequences not only for waging a brutal and unprovoked war against Ukraine, but also for violating the human rights of the Russian people,” Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.

“The assassination attempt against Aleksey Navalny in 2020 represents the Kremlin’s contempt for human rights, and we will continue to use the authorities at our disposal to hold the Kremlin’s willing would-be executioners to account.”

Navalny, who in the 2010s brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets, was detained in January 2021 after returning to Moscow from Germany where he had been treated for what Western doctors said was poisoning by a Soviet-era nerve agent.

The Kremlin, which at one point accused him of working with the CIA to undermine Russia, denied any involvement in what happened to him and denies persecuting Navalny.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)