Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) said it had submitted a broader list of 35 people in total in a letter to Biden on Friday, eight of which were on a “priority list.” The letter states that seven of the 35 people are already on US sanctions lists.
The move comes ahead of nationwide protests scheduled for this weekend in support of Navalny, who is being held ahead of a court hearing next week.
In a copy of the letter obtained by CNN, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is named on the “priority list” for what FBK describes as a major enabler and alleged beneficiary of the Kremlin’s “kleptocracy”. Abramovich is the owner of the English Premier League football club Chelsea. A spokesman for Abramovich said in an email statement to CNN that “there is no basis for such claims to be wholly unfounded”.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko is also mentioned for allegedly “covering up” the poisoning of Navalny and “hindering” efforts to evacuate the Russian opposition leader to Germany for medical treatment. CNN has contacted Russia’s Health Ministry for comment.
FBK director Vladimir Ashurkov, who signed the letter, told CNN on Saturday that the foundation called on the US to put pressure on Putin to release Navalny.
The letter is addressed to the President of the United States – the most powerful country. [The US] has a history of imposing sanctions on those involved in corruption. If anyone can do anything, it’s the US, ”Ashurkov told CNN.
The letter seen by CNN says that Navalny has for years called for sanctions against those he believes are key to ‘aiding and encouraging’ Putin in the ‘prosecution’ of those who ‘want to express their opinions freely and promote corruption in the USA [Russian] system, “adding that the existing sanctions do not target” enough of the right people. ”
“The West must sanction the decision-makers who have made it national policy to manipulate elections, steal the budget and poison them. It must also impose sanctions on those who hold their money.” The letter continues, “Anything with less will not cause the regime to change its behavior.”
Ashurkov said he and Navalny had worked on the list of 35 Russians before Navalny returned to Russia from Germany earlier this month, initially focusing on the top eight.
In the letter, the list of 35 people is divided into three groups:
- “Oligarchs to whom Putin has bestowed wealth and power and who exercise them on behalf of the regime;”
- “Human rights violators and those who suppress basic civil and political freedoms;”
- “Persons specifically involved in the persecution of Navalny and our organization.”
‘We did not want to make this list public until we had completed the full file on it. But after his [Navalny’s] arrest we knew we had to act, ” Ashurkov told CNN.
Navalny was detained on January 17, shortly after arriving in Moscow after months of treatment in Germany after being poisoned with Novichok nerve agent in August 2020.
He is currently in custody ahead of a hearing on Feb. 2, where a court will decide whether his suspended sentence for fraud in a 2014 embezzlement case should be commuted to imprisonment because of what Russian authorities say are the terms of his suspended sentence.
The letter states that the eight shortlisted people have “special priority”. They were discussed with Navalny shortly before boarding the plane to travel back to Moscow, Ashurkov said.
Ashurkov said Navalny’s team plans to make the same request to the European Union and the British government.
In an interview with CNN earlier this week, former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent more than 10 years in a Russian prison after arguing with Putin for emphasizing official corruption, also said the new US government should take global leadership. to make sure its fate does not befall Navalny either.
From exile in London, Khodorkovsky said personal sanctions should be imposed by Biden and others in the West on those closest to Putin, rather than broad sectoral sanctions.
Khodorkovsky said attacking Putin’s entourage would be extremely painful for the Russian president and would erode the stability of his power.
CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed to this report.