US sanctions Russian officials over dissident’s detention

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on five Russian officials and an expert witness involved in the incarceration of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician who has been imprisoned in Moscow since April for speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Governments and human rights organizations around the world, including the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, have called for Kara-Murza’s release. Treasury sanctioned Elena Lenskaya, a Moscow judge; Andrei Zadachin, a special investigator; and Danila Mikheev, an expert witness for the Russian government on the case against Kara-Murza. The State Department imposed visa restrictions on them and three others.