The Kremlin does not see any problem to dispose of unwanted people by means of poisoning. Kremlin fierce critic Alexei Navalny is the last victim to fall prey to Russia’s vindictive political elite. This incident proved again that Moscow violated the Chemical Weapons Convention which bans the use of bacteriological and chemical weapons on civilians. It does not matter if Moscow wants to deal with its nationals in its own ways: the terms of the convention must be fulfilled internationally. Joining the EU authorities, Washington has come up with its portion of tough sanctions.
The US has imposed the technological blockade on Russia. The first stage implies that the US terminates the license for delivery to Russia of all goods and technology that pose a threat to the US national security. This clause sets out exports of three categories such as spare parts and maintenance materials, authorized software, and some goods for restricted re-exports. Judging by the official comments on the sanctions, more export licenses will be revoked in the near time. Meanwhile, American lawmakers are discussing new items to be blacklisted on the grounds of a presumption of denial. Interestingly, the Chemical and Biological Weapons Act Sanctions dated March 2, 2021, also specifies full or partial waivers. In other words, if some items from the blacklist are needed, certain loopholes will allow Washington to buy or sell them.
The waivers include exports required “to ensure the safe operation of commercial passenger aviation” as well as “exports in support of government space cooperation”. Besides, wholly-owned US subsidiaries and other foreign subsidiaries of US companies in Russia are also free from restrictions on exports.
