Biden additionally posted a message on X, the web site previously generally known as Twitter, with images of him with the Navalny household.
Few particulars have emerged about the reason for Navalny’s loss of life — his household has been unable to retrieve his physique — however Biden and most Russia-watchers have expressed suspicion, if not close to certainty, that Vladimir Putin had a direct position after the Russian president moved the dissident final yr to a distant penal colony above the Arctic Circle.
Yulia, in a
video message, blamed Putin for killing her husband and vowed to take up his trigger, that of a free Russia.
Biden, who final week mentioned Putin is “accountable” for the loss of life, mentioned in 2021 that the Russian chief would endure “devastating” penalties if Navalny had been to die in jail.
Requested about that comment following Navalny’s loss of life, Biden appeared to dismiss the menace as irrelevant some three years later. He famous that Russia has already suffered main penalties following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as a result of financial sanctions and export controls which have been imposed by the U.S. and NATO allies.
The White Home, in its readout of Thursday’s assembly, additionally famous that Biden deliberate to announce extra sanctions on Friday “in response to Alexei’s loss of life, Russia’s repression and aggression, and its brutal and unlawful battle in Ukraine.”
However that bundle
had been within the works previous to Navalny’s loss of life, deliberate for launch to mark the two-year anniversary of the battle this Saturday. And including extra measures to it following Navalny’s loss of life has proved difficult, in accordance with three administration officers.