The United Kingdom has frozen the assets of six Russian jail officials in charge of the Arctic correctional colony where opposition leader Alexei Navalny died.
Individuals who have been sanctioned will be barred from entering the United Kingdom.
Western officials have blamed Navalny’s death on Russian authorities, notably President Vladimir Putin.
The UK is the first country to implement sanctions in response to his killing, according to the Foreign Office.
The US has also announced it will be unveiling its own package of sanctions against Russia over Navalny’s death and the ongoing war in Ukraine on Friday.
The British government has called for Navalny’s body to be released to his family immediately and for a full and transparent investigation to take place.
The appeal from the UK echoes similar calls from Navalny’s mother, who was filmed on Tuesday outside the colony where he died saying she had been trying to see him for five days but did not even know where he was.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK and its allies were considering “all options to hold Russia and Putin to account”.
Navalny, who was the Russian opposition’s most significant leader for the last decade, had been serving a 19-year sentence on charges many viewed as politically motivated.
The Russian prison service said he died at the IK-3 Arctic penal colony on Friday after taking a walk and suddenly collapsing.
Navalny’s team alleges he was murdered on the orders of President Putin.
There has been no confirmation of the whereabouts of the body from Russian authorities, while efforts to locate it have been repeatedly shut down.
