The UK is to enforce European Union sanctions against members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle over the poisoning of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Foreign Office said. The announcement came hours after the EU imposed asset freezes and travel bans on six senior Russian officials, including Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the FSB intelligence service, and two deputy defence ministers. Its also imposed sanctions on a chemical research institute in Moscow involved in the development of the nerve agent Novichok, which is believed to have been used in the attempted assassination of Mr Navalny. “Together with our international partners, we are sanctioning those responsible for the criminal poisoning of Alexey Navalny,” Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said. “Any use of chemical weapons by the Russian state violates international law. We are determined to hold those responsible to account.”
