Joe Biden ‘not surprised’ at news of Russian critic Alexei Navalny’s death
US President Joe Biden said that he was “not surprised” but “outraged” at the news of Russian opposition leader Alexei Nanalny’s death.
He also said that the death of the Russian critic “was a consequence of something that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his thugs did”. According to the Russian prison service, Navalny, 47, died on Friday after collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a long jail term.
Navalny, by far Russia’s most famous opposition leader, rose to prominence more than a decade ago by lampooning the elite class round President Putin and voicing allegations of corruption on a vast scale. In an address at the White House on Friday, Biden said Navalny “bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence, and all the bad things that the Putin government was doing”.
“In response, Putin had him poisoned. He had him arrested and prosecuted for fabricated crimes. He sentenced him to prison. He was held in isolation. Even all that didn’t stop him from calling out Putin’s lies. Even in prison, he was a powerful voice of the truth.”
The President also lauded the opposition leader for returning to Russia despite an assassination attempt on him in 2020. In August 2020, Navalny said at the time that he was poisoned in Siberia. The Kremlin, however, denied trying to kill him and said there was no evidence he was poisoned with a nerve agent.
Biden went on to say that if the reports of Navalny’s death were true “and I have no reason to believe they’re not, Russian authorities are going to tell their own story”. “But make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible,” the President said, adding that “what has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality”.
While replying to a question if Navalny was assassinated, 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 said the Russian critic’s “courage will not be forgotten”.
“I’m sure it will not be the only courage we see coming out of Russia in the near term,” the President noted. Following the news of his death, world leaders reacted sharply, accusing President Vladimir Putin’s regime of foul play.
While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “Russia is responsible for this”, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, “If it’s confirmed, it is a terrible tragedy”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, “This is terrible news. As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, “It is obvious: he was killed by Putin, as thousands of others were tortured and martyred by this one ‘creature’”.
“Putin does not care who dies as long as he keeps his position. And that is why he should not keep anything. Putin should lose everything and answer for what he has done.” Meanwhile, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya has urged Putin’s accountability for her husband’s death.
She said she did not know whether to believe Russian authorities.
“But if this is true, I want Putin, his entire entourage, Putin’s friends, his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband.”