Biden blames Putin for death of Alexei Navalny: ‘Make no mistake, Putin is responsible’
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the reported death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny — before he blasted Congress for not approving a pending $60 billion aid package for Ukraine.
“Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality,” Biden said at the White House.
The Russian leader “does not only target citizens of other countries, as we’ve seen with what is going on in Ukraine right now. He also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people,” he added.
The president went on to eulogize Navalny as a democratic martyr.
“People across Russia and around the world are mourning Navalny today because he was so many things that Putin was not. He was brave, he was principled, he was dedicated to building a Russian where the rule of law existed,” he said in the remarks ahead of an afternoon trip to East Palestine, Ohio.
“He bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence and they did all the bad things the Putin government was doing.”
Biden, however, didn’t indicate any US penalties for his death, despite warning in 2021 that there would be “devastating” consequences for Russia if Navalny died.
Asked about his prior threat of consequences against Putin if Navalny died, Biden said, “that was three years ago. In the meantime, they faced a hell of a lot of consequences.”
In 2021, Biden insisted he warned Putin during a summit the two leaders had in Geneva, Switzerland, of “devastating” consequences if Navalny were to die in prison.
“I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Biden said, though he declined to specify which actions he would take, CNN reported at the time.
The 81-year-old commander-in-chief also had a pointed message for US lawmakers.
“This tragedy reminds us of the stakes in this moment,” he said.
“We have to provide the funding so Ukraine can keep defending itself against Putin’s vicious onslaughts and war crimes.
What we know about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
- Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, Alexei Navalny, died in a brutal penal colony, on Friday February 16, 2024.
- Navalny had been jailed since 2021 after returning home following a nerve agent poisoning widely assumed to have been an assassination attempt.
- Navalny’s death comes a day after he appeared in a court hearing via a video link, where he was heard making jokes with the judge.
- Navalny rose to prominence in Russia more than a decade ago by making fun of the elite class around Russian President Putin and voicing allegations of corruption on a vast scale.
- Navalny, 47, got married to his wife, Yulia, in 2000 and was a father of two.
- Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service claimed that “the convict” collapsed and died after he “felt unwell” during a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in remote Kharp, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.
“History is watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has requested a meeting with Biden to discuss US goals in the conflict before deciding whether to hold a vote on the Senate-passed aid to Kyiv.
Biden raised his voice when criticizing a two-week congressional recess.
“Two weeks — what are they thinking? My God. This is bizarre,” he said. “And it’s just reinforcing all of the concern and almost — I won’t say panic, but real concern about the United States being a reliable ally. This is outrageous.”
“It’s going to be down in the pages of history. It really is. It’s consequential,” Biden warned of possible congressional inaction on Ukraine funding.
“And the clock is ticking. And this has to happen. We have to help now. You know, we have to realize what we’re dealing with with Putin.”
Johnson condemned Navalny’s death in his own statement, saying, ““Vladimir Putin is a vicious dictator and the world knows he is likely directly responsible for the sudden death of his most prominent political opponent, Alexei Navalny.”
But the House speaker didn’t commit to providing more funds to Kyiv, adding, “As Congress debates the best path forward to support Ukraine, the United States, and our partners, must be using every means available to cut off Putin’s ability to fund his unprovoked war in Ukraine and aggression against the Baltic states.”
