Press Releases

Washington D.C. – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:

“For far too long, Russia has undermined international security and violated human rights at home and abroad with impunity. Our response has failed to match the severity of the malign actions taken by the Kremlin, including the invasion and illegal annexation of Crimea, interference in our elections, disinformation and cyber hacking campaigns, or targeting of dissidents and human rights activists inside and outside of Russia.

“Even by the standards of Putin’s Russia, the attempted murder of opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, followed by his imprisonment, was a brazen attempt to silence a voice that has powerfully advocated for democratic reforms, something that Putin so clearly fears. The sanctions announced today on senior Russian officials with responsibility for the poisoning of Navalny are an important and overdue response to this latest outrage. Working in close coordination with our allies, we must use an array of tools, including sanctions, to meaningfully deter, repel, and punish Moscow’s transgressions.

“Unless we impose meaningful costs, we cannot expect to curb behaviors from Russia that undermine both our national security and values.”

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