UK Considers New Russia Sanctions

- The "frog toxin" identified in samples from Alexei Navalny's body is epibatidine, a highly potent neurotoxin derived from the skin of the South American phantasmal poison frog. Laboratories in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands jointly confirmed its presence, concluding it was the likely cause of death and that the Russian state had the means and motive to administer it. - The UK has a legal framework in place for sanctioning individuals responsible for human rights abuses, known as the Global Human Rights sanctions regime, or a "Magnitsky-style" law. This was first used in 2020 to sanction 25 Russian nationals for their role in the mistreatment and death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. - Potential new financial restrictions could include an expansion of the list of designated persons subject to asset freezes and travel bans. UK financial institutions are already required to conduct enhanced due diligence on high-risk clients, which includes obtaining detailed information on the source of funds and wealth, and securing senior management approval for the business relationship. - The UK and its allies intend to refer the poisoning case to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This could trigger a formal investigation to determine if there has been a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Russia is a signatory. - Existing UK sanctions already heavily target Russia's financial sector by restricting access to UK capital markets, prohibiting dealings in certain transferable securities and money-market instruments, and banning the provision of trust services to persons connected with Russia. - Sanctions against Russia's central bank, national wealth fund, and ministry of finance are already in place, prohibiting UK individuals and entities from providing financial services for the purpose of foreign exchange reserve and asset management. - The UK's Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act of 2022 strengthened anti-money laundering measures by creating a register of foreign owners of UK property and empowering unexplained wealth orders. These tools could be further utilized to target Russian assets. - Russia has a history of obstructing OPCW investigations, including terminating a joint investigation into chemical weapons use by the Syrian government and promoting disinformation campaigns to undermine the organization's findings.