His reaction was highly anticipated. In June 2021, during a meeting in Switzerland with Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden was questioned about the hypothesis of the death of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny. “I told him (Vladimir Putin) very clearly that I thought the consequences would be devastating for Russia,” the American president declared at the time.
Alexeï Navalny died this Friday, February 16. And Joe Biden spoke on this subject from the White House, saying he was “scandalized” by the death of the Russian opponent, a “powerful voice for the truth”. He also claimed that Russian President Vladimir “Putin was responsible”, holding the same line as many Western leaders.
“Obvious questions arise”
“We do not know exactly what happened,” the American president clarified during his speech. American Vice-President Kamala Harris, for her part, considered that the death of Alexeï Navalny constituted “a new sign of the brutality” of the Putin regime.
Earlier this Friday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan called Navalny’s death a “terrible tragedy”. “Given the Russian government’s long and sordid pattern of harming its opponents, obvious questions arise about what just happened,” he continued, adding that Washington was seeking to confirm the information on its side first. to decide on the course of action to follow.