The White House announced that President Joe Biden met today, Thursday, with the wife and daughter of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last week, "to express his heartfelt condolences." The White House stated in a press release that Biden expressed during the meeting in California his admiration for "Navalny's extraordinary courage and his legacy in fighting corruption and advocating for a free and democratic Russia where everyone is equal before the law."
Additionally, Biden also confirmed that the United States would announce significant new sanctions against Moscow tomorrow, Friday, in response to Navalny's death "and the repression and aggression of Russia and its war in Ukraine." In this context, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, stated today, Thursday, that the United States would impose "hundreds and hundreds" of sanctions on Russia in a new package to mark the second anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine. Nuland added that some sanctions would target those responsible for Navalny's death, but most would affect "President Vladimir Putin's war machine" and close gaps in current sanctions.
