Washington, March 2 (AFP/APP):The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials in a coordinated action with the European Union as US intelligence concluded that Moscow orchestrated the near fatal poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. In his first major action against Russia since taking office, President Joe Biden’s administration said it was freezing any US assets and criminalizing transactions with seven senior Russians, including the director of the FSB security service. US intelligence assessed “with high confidence” that officers of the FSB, successor to the KGB, poisoned Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok on August 20, 2020, a US official told reporters. Navalny was flown to Germany for treatment but defiantly returned in January, only to be arrested and then sent to a penal colony after spurring massive rallies through his allegations of corruption by Putin. “The US government has exercised its authorities to send a clear signal that Russia’s use of chemical weapons and abuse of human rights have severe consequences,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny,” he said. The announcement comes one day after EU member … Continue reading US concludes Russia poisoned Navalny, joins EU in sanctions