By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden on Friday he blamed the Russian president Vladimir Poutine For Alexei Navalnyand warned that there could be consequences, saying he was “not surprised” but “outraged” by the death of the opposition leader.
“We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that Nalvany’s death was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did,” Biden said at the White House after authorities Russian penitentiaries announced Navalny’s death.
“The Russian authorities are going to tell their own story,” Biden said. “But make no mistake. Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.”
He also said he was “considering” additional measures to punish Russia following Navalny’s death, paying tribute to the opposition leader for “courageously” resisting “corruption” and “violence ” of Putin’s government.
“We’re thinking about what else can be done,” Biden said in response to reporters’ questions. “We are looking at a number of options, that’s all I will say for now.”
Biden also told reporters that there was “no nuclear threat to the American people or anywhere else in the world with what Russia is doing right now,” even as Russia considered deploying anti-satellite technology in the ‘space. Russia has previously denied this claim.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on possible measures against Russia that were being evaluated.
U.S. officials were still seeking more information about Navalny’s death in a Russian penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, where he was sent less than two months ago.
But this development and Biden’s reaction have further cooled already bitter US-Russia relations.
Navalny, 47, had been a leading critic of Putin, and Biden said after meeting with Putin in Geneva in June 2021 that Nalvany’s death would risk devastating consequences for Putin.
Biden and Putin remain deeply at odds over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, for which Russia was sanctioned by the United States and other Western countries, and Biden is urging most Republicans radicals in the US Congress to support additional funds to finance more weapons. for the Ukrainian army.
Russia has featured prominently in the election campaign as Biden seeks re-election in November.
His expected Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, sparked bipartisan outrage last week by saying he would do nothing to defend NATO allies against Russia unless they paid a greater share for common defenses.
Congress’ top Republican, House Speaker Mike Johnson, did not bring up for a vote a Senate bill including $95.34 billion in security aid for Ukraine and Israel , international humanitarian assistance and resources to help allies in the Indo-Pacific.
After Navalny’s death, Johnson said the United States and its allies should use “all available means to prevent Putin from financing his unprovoked war in Ukraine and his aggression against the Baltic states.”
“History is watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten,” Biden said.
In Munich, for a major security conference, Vice President Kamala Harris vowed that the United States would never abandon its obligations in the NATO alliance established after World War II, contrasting Biden’s approach to global engagement with Trump’s isolationist views, presidential election hope.
She also met Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia on the sidelines of the conference and “expressed sadness and outrage” over reports of her husband’s death, a White House official said.
Biden’s presidential reelection campaign released a new one-minute ad Friday accusing Trump of abandoning NATO. They planned to target advertising to 2.5 million American voters in the hotly contested electoral states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which trace their ancestry to NATO states bordering Russia.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil, Gabriel Araujo and Doina Chiacu; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)
