Joe Biden says Vladimir Putin is wholly responsible for the death in a Russian jail of Alexei Navalny.

Speaking at the White House, in his first comments following news that one of the Russian leader’s most vocal critics was dead, the US president said “like millions of people around the world”, he was “literally not surprised and outraged by the reported death of Alexei Navalny”

Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.

Putin is responsible. What has happened and evolving is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world [that] Putin does not only target citizens of other countries, as we’ve seen in what’s going on in Ukraine right now, he also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people.

In questions from reporters following his address, Biden said the US was still awaiting formal confirmation of the Russian opposition leader’s death, but had no reason to doubt it.

Asked if he thought it was “an assassination”, Biden said:

The answer is we don’t know exactly what happened. But there is no doubt that the death of Navalny is a consequence of something Putin and his thugs did.

Source: The Guardian

BDST: 1243 HRS, FEB 17, 2024
SMS