The United States continues to insist on the release of Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny, and reserves the right to impose additional sanctions on Russia if the situation in this regard changes for the worse. Press secretary Jen Psaki stated about this at Thursday’s White House press briefing.

Asked if new sanctions could be imposed on Moscow in connection with the possible deterioration of Navalny's health condition, Psaki said the US had already imposed a series of sanctions on Russia this month, adding that the White House reserves “the right to issue additional sanctions in the future.”

“The executive order the President [Biden] signed just last week gives us authority to do that on individuals or industries.  But, obviously, our objective here and our focus and our hope is that—that Mr. Navalny will be treated with humanity and kept safe and, of course, ultimately, be released,” Psaki added.

According to her, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev a few days ago, and the Navalny issue was one of the topics of discussion.

“(...) conveying not just the consequences, but certainly our call for and our push for him [Navalny] to be treated with humanity and also to be released.  And that continues to be a message that we are conveying clearly,” Psaki said, adding that many details of such conversations should be kept secret, and “that is a more constructive way to reach our outcome.”