President Joe Biden on Friday reacted in a speech to the death of Russian politician Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of the Kremlin, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of assassinating him.
“Russian authorities are going to tell their own story. Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Alexei Navalny’s death,” President Biden told reporters.
“What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world.”
President Biden praised Mr. Navalny’s courage, adding that “he was so many things that Putin was not.”
“He was brave. He was principled, who’s dedicated to building a Russia where a rule of law existed.”
During his speech, President Biden urged Congress to pass the national security supplemental bill, which includes $60 billion in aid to Ukraine.
“It’s about time they step up,” President Biden said, criticizing lawmakers for taking a two-week vacation.
“They’re walking away. Two weeks. What are they thinking? My God. This is bizarre,” President Biden said angrily.
When asked if the White House had any evidence of assassination, President Biden said, “We don’t know exactly what happened.”
“But there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did,” he added.
Mr. Navalny, 47, was a Russian opposition activist who has been the most prominent critic of Mr. Putin’s government for the past decade. He collapsed and died in jail on Feb. 16, according to Russian officials.
Mr. Navalny, a former lawyer, spoke out against government corruption and organized massive anti-Kremlin protests.
He has been incarcerated since January 2021, following his return to Moscow from Germany. He received three prison sentences totaling more than 30 years.
Russian authorities reported that Mr. Navalny felt unwell after a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, one of 700 labor camps currently operating in Russia. It’s located about 1,900 kilometers (1,181 miles) northeast of Moscow in the Arctic Circle. He lost consciousness almost immediately, the authorities reported.
President Biden said that he was outraged but not surprised by the news.
“He bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence, and all the bad things the Putin government was doing,” he said.
“Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. And he could have lived safely in exile,” Biden continued.
Mr. Navalny chose to return to Moscow in January 2021 from Germany, where he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning. Mr. Navalny blamed the Kremlin for the poisoning, which was done using Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent. He was arrested upon his return to Moscow.
Other Western leaders reacted to his death as well.
“This is terrible news,“ UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wrote on X. ”As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life.”
“My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy.”
Russian officials portrayed Mr. Navalny as an extremist and a puppet of the CIA. When protests against Mr. Putin erupted in December 2011, he was among the first protest leaders arrested.
Mr. Navalny was married to Yulia Navalnaya, 47, who has been described as Russia’s “first lady” of the opposition. The couple had two children.
According to Reuters, Mr. Navalny’s last message was to his wife on Valentine’s Day.
“Baby, you and I have everything like in the song: cities between us, airfield take-off lights, blue blizzards and thousands of kilometres. But I feel that you are there every second, and I love you more and more,” Mr. Navalny wrote.
