US President Joe Biden said he was “shocked” by the death of imprisoned Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, a “powerful voice of truth,” and affirmed that Russian President Vladimir “Putin is responsible” for his death.
“We don’t know exactly what happened” but ultimately it is the fault of Putin and his “thugs,” the US president said during a speech at the White House.
“Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible,” she said. “What has happened to Navalny is further proof of Putin’s brutality. “No one should be fooled,” he added.
Biden said he is “examining options” on how to respond, but did not go further.
Asked in 2021, after meeting with President Putin in Switzerland, about what would happen if Navalny died, Biden declared: “I made it clear to him that I think the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia.”
For Biden, Navalny was a defender of the truth.
“Even in prison he was a powerful voice for truth,” he said. “God bless Alexei Navalny, his bravery will not be forgotten.”
Russian authorities said Navalny died on Friday in an Arctic prison, a month before an election that could prolong Putin’s hold on power.
Navalny’s death, after three years in detention and a poisoning for which he blamed the Kremlin, deprives the Russian opposition of its visible head at a time of intense repression and Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
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