What did Joe Biden say about Alexei Navalny’s death and who did he blame?

It was inevitable that the US government was to comment on the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny in prison. President Joe Biden held an extraordinary press conference on Friday night saying he had “no doubt” that Russian President Vladimir Putin played a role in the death.

“God bless Alexei Navalny,” Mr Biden said. “His courage will not be forgotten.”

“We’re looking at a whole number of options,” Biden said about repercussions. “That’s all I’ll say right now.”

Other US politicans criticised the Russian government.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called Mr Putin a “vicious dictator,” adding “If confirmed, this action is emblematic of Putin’s global pattern of silencing critics and eliminating opponents out of fear of dissent.”

Alexei Navalny died at age 47 in the ‘Polar Wolf’ prison north of the Arctic Circle. He had been held there since the end of 2023.

The imprisonment of Alexei Navalny

For years, Navalny and his family had raised concerns about their safety, which were affirmed after an attempt to poison the politician in 2020. The attempt on his life was made on a flight between Tomsk and Moscow, with the poison used being a nerve agent, which was later confirmed by the five labs certified by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

He had to be flown to Germany in September 2020 when he was poisoned with a nerve agent. Upon returning to Russia he was arrested for violating his probation terms. A slew of other charges were levied against him, leading to his imprisonment.