U.S. sanctions four linked to 2020 poisoning of Alexei Navalny

Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned four Russians accused in the poisoning of currently imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

The sanctions targeted Alexey Alexandrovich Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov and Vladimir Alexandrovich Panyaev, all of whom the Treasury said were involved in the assassination attempt.

"These individuals collaborated to surveil Navalny ahead of the attack, break into his hotel room and apply the chemical weapon to his personal belongings, and they attempted to erase any evidence of their operation following the attack," the Treasury said.

All four of the individuals were associated with the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, and were previously designated in 2021 "for acting for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly for the organization.

Alexandrov and Osipov are both FSB Criminalistics Institute operatives who are believed to be among the main perpetrators of the poisonings, the Treasury said.

Kudryavstev, another operative admitted to his involvement in a cleanup operation after the poisoning while Panyaev reportedly tailed Navalny ahead of the attack.

In August 2020, Navalny became ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. The aircraft diverted to Omsk, where Navalny was hospitalized in a coma.

Navalny was then taken to Germany for treatment, where he recovered and had samples of his blood and urine taken by representatives of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Lab tests revealed the presence of substances indicating the presence of Novichok nerve agent and an analysis of the water bottle Navalny had been drinking from also revealed the presence of the nerve agent.

A joint investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider, CNN and Der Speigel discovered accused members of the assassination team responsible for the poisoning attempt, even confronting the accused assassins at one of their apartments.

"The Russian operation against Navalny reportedly involved multiple individuals who were on the ground in both Tomsk and Omsk, as well as operatives coordinating the situation from afar," the Treasury Department said.

Navalny returned to Russia after recovering but was quickly detained on charges that have been denounced by international human rights groups, including Amnesty International.