President Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for the sudden death of Alexei Navalny, the best-known critic of the Kremlin, saying he is “both not surprised and outraged” by the latest death of a Putin opponent.
The president said he is looking at a “whole number of options” to sanction or otherwise punish Russia, and he used the occasion to scold Congress, saying Republicans need to “step up” and approve further aid to Ukraine.
“Make no mistake — Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Mr. Biden said Friday at the White House, calling it further proof of the Russian leader’s brutality as he carries on his invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Mr. Biden said Mr. Navalny was all the things that Mr. Putin is not.
“He was brave, he was principled, he was dedicated to building a Russia where the rule of law existed and where it applied to everybody,” Mr. Biden said.
Long one of Mr. Putin’s most high-profile and vocal critics, Mr. Navalny, 47, died in the maximum-security “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Yamalo-Nenets, about 25 miles above the Arctic Circle.
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The official Russian RT news network said Mr. Navalny lost consciousness after a walk, and efforts to resuscitate him failed. RT said he had a blood clot at the time of his death.
“He bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence and all the bad things the Putin government was doing,” Mr. Biden said. “Even all that didn’t stop him from calling out Putin’s lies. Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth, which is kind of amazing when you think about it.”
Mr. Biden repeated his support for NATO as fears mount that Mr. Putin will target a member nation in Eastern Europe.
The president trying to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, who recently recalled that, as president, he warned a NATO ally that he would encourage Russia to do whatever it wanted if the NATO member did not pay its share for the mutual defense alliance.
Mr. Biden said he would not walk away from Article 5 of the NATO treaty that says an attack on one member is an attack on all members. His voice rising, he said House Republicans should ditch plans to take a two-week recess and approve his call for $60 billion more in Ukrainian aid.
“What are these guys doing? What are they doing?” he said.
SEE ALSO: NATO’s Stoltenberg: Russia must answer questions about death of jailed Putin critic
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed Mr. Navalny’s reported death at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
“This is, of course, terrible news,” she said. “Whatever story they tell, let us be clear — Russia is responsible.”
Mr. Navalny was the latest in a string of high-profile critics of Mr. Putin who have died after running afoul of the Kremlin.
Others on the list include Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group mercenary army leader and former confidant of the Russian leader until he led an aborted rebellion last June. He and nine other people were killed two months later when his jet crashed north of Moscow under circumstances that several analysts have said are suspicious.
• Mike Glenn contributed to this story.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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