Biden meets Alexei Navalny’s widow and daughter in California

President Biden on Thursday met in California with the widow and daughter of Alexei Navalny, the prominent Russian opposition figure whose sudden death in jail last week is being blamed on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya in San Francisco, expressing condolences for Navalny’s death, the White House said in a statement. 

“The President expressed his admiration for Alexei Navalny’s extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone,” the statement read. 

The Biden administration is expected to announce on Friday a significant package of sanctions against Russia, marking two years since the country launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as sanctions issued in response to Navalny’s death.

“He affirmed that his Administration will announce major new sanctions against Russia tomorrow in response to Aleksey’s death, Russia’s repression and aggression, and its brutal and illegal war in Ukraine,” the White House said.

Navalny, a prominent thorn in the side of Putin, died suddenly last week, falling unconscious after a walk outside in the penal colony he was being held above the Arctic Circle, the Russian prison services said in a statement. Navalny was serving more than 20 years in prison on charges that much of the international community has condemned as politically motivated.

“Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible,” Biden said last Friday.