SAN FRANCISCO — President Biden met with the wife and daughter of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny Thursday ahead of an announcement of major new U.S. sanctions against Moscow on Friday.
Mr. Biden met with Yulia Navalnaya and her daughter, Dasha, during a fundraising swing in California.
“We are going to announce sanctions against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow,” Mr. Biden said. “We are not letting up.”
Mr. Biden is trying to demonstrate U.S. leadership against Mr. Putin over his invasion of Ukraine and the sudden death of Mr. Navalny, who was a constant Kremlin critic and died in an Arctic prison last week. The sanctions come on the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The president’s trip, however, has been dogged by another global crisis: Israel’s assault on Gaza to rout Hamas militants who raided Israeli towns and took hostages last Oct. 7.
A group of 20 to 30 protesters entered the lobby of the hotel where Mr. Biden was staying in San Francisco and chanted, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” and “Ceasefire now.”
They also unfurled a banner that said, “Stop funding genocide: End all U.S. aid to Israel,” and chanted, “How many kids did you kill today?”
Mr. Biden says Israel has a right to defend itself against Palestinian militants, but there is growing global worry over the civilian death toll from the conflict.
• Jeff Mordock, traveling with the president, reported from San Francisco.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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