President Joe Biden said Russia will be held accountable for the death of dissent Alexei Navalny in one of the country’s prisons and urged Congress again to support Ukraine in a fiery Friday speech.
“Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for an involuntary death,” Biden said. “Putin is responsible.”
Vice President Kamala Harris weighed in earlier in the morning, also saying at a conference in Germany that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible and arguing for an aggressive U.S. foreign policy stance.
Like Harris, Biden not only criticized Russia but urged Congress to approve more aid for Ukraine, which Russia invaded two years ago.
“I mean this in a literal sense: History is watching,” Biden said. “History is watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten.”
Appearing angry, he scolded the House for going on a two-week recess, calling it a “bizarre” move that “reinforces concern about the United States being a reliable ally.”
Russian prison services reported that Navalny, Putin’s top domestic critic, died in a jail located near the Arctic Circle, where he had been sentenced to work at a penal colony for 19 years. Putin’s critics are frequently imprisoned for opposing the Russian president, and some are assassinated.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, a GOP presidential candidate, said earlier Friday that “Putin did this” while criticizing former President Donald Trump’s past praise of the dictator. Trump blamed Biden, posting on Truth Social that “America is no longer respected” because of his weak leadership.
Biden criticized Trump, too, calling some of his previous comments about Putin “outrageous” and saying former presidents must be “rolling over in their graves hearing this.”
No information on Navalny’s cause of death has been released, but the news came during a meeting of NATO allies in Munich, at which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was speaking.
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Biden began his speech with praise of Navalny’s bravery in the face of danger.
“He bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence, all the all the bad things that Putin was doing,” Biden said. “In response, Putin had poisoned, he had him arrested and prosecuted for fabricated crimes. He sends him to prison. He’s held in isolation. Even all that didn’t stop him from calling out lies. Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth.”