US imposes sanctions against a number of Russians for persecution of opposition politician Kara-Murza

Joe Biden's administration imposed sanctions on Friday, 3 March, on a number of Russians involved in the unlawful detention of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent human rights activist and critic of the Kremlin, who is currently in prison in Moscow.

Source: U.S. Department of State, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The United States has called for Kara-Murza's "immediate and unconditional release".

Kara-Murza, who has survived two poisonings, has been incredibly critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's war in Ukraine, and he continues to speak out even as he is detained.

Kara-Murza spoke before the Arizona House of Representatives and spoke out against the war in March 2022. He called Putin’s government "a regime of murderers" in an April 2022 interview with CNN. He was arrested shortly thereafter for "failing to obey the orders of law enforcement officers," according to his wife.

"The Russian Government later brought additional politically motivated charges against him, and Kara-Murza currently faces the prospect of more than 30 years in prison," US State Secretary Antony Blinken said in a statement on Friday.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions under an expansion of the Global Magnitsky Act, which targets serious human rights abusers, on Friday. The sanctions come more than five months after the top Democrat and Republican officials of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called on the Biden’s administration to take action under that law.

The sanctions target Elena Lenskaya, Andrei Zadachin, and Daniil Mikheev for their serious violation of human rights.

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