A close ally of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalyn urged U.S. President Joe Biden to take punitive action against a wider group of associates of President Vladimir Putin, saying current sanctions aren’t sufficient to stop the Kremlin from cracking down on political opponents and violating human rights.
“Existing sanctions don’t reach enough of the right people,” wrote Vladimir Ashurkov wrote in a letter to Biden posted on his Facebook page on Saturday. He listed 35 people, including billionaires Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov, senior staffers of Putin’s administration, and the heads of several state companies who Navalny says should be targeted.
“Anything less will fail to make the regime change its behavior,” Ashurkov wrote. “The West must sanction the decision makers who have made it national policy to rig elections, steal from the budget, and poison.” Navalny and his alkies also want the U.S. to sanction those who hold their money.
The list included two billionaires, VTB Bank Chief Executive Officer Andrey Kostin, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and the prominent adult children of Putin allies. Some of those have already been sanctioned by the U.S. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who is also listed, didn’t respond to a request for a comment.
