Washington has announced its intention to introduce additional sanctions against Moscow.
The White House decided to do this for "wrongful detention of American citizens."
This was stated by Joe Biden administration spokesman John Kirby in an interview with Fox News .
The official recalled that the United States urged its citizens to refrain from traveling to Russia.
At the same time, the country's authorities intend to use various methods to achieve the return of Americans detained and convicted in the Russian Federation.
To do this, Washington will use the Levinson Act (a law that allows US authorities to impose sanctions and other restrictions on charges of illegal detention of their citizens).
Kirby stressed that the White House has used the Levinson Act before: "We'll do it again."
The official added that Washington would focus its efforts on bringing back Americans.
As an example, he cited former embassy employee Mark Vogel, who was accused of smuggling and storing illegal substances on an especially large scale.
