Biden: Navalny’s Death ‘More Proof of Putin’s Brutality’

President Joe Biden laid the blame for Alexei Navalny’s death squarely at the feet of Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday, saying what happened to the imprisoned opposition leader is “yet more proof of Putin’s brutality.”

Clearly distraught over both the death of 47-year-old Navalny in a northwest Siberian prison and the failure of the GOP-run House to approve funding to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression, Biden said “the clock is ticking” on reining in the Russian strongman.

“Alexei Navalny was so many things Putin was not. He was brave. He was principled,” Biden said at the White House. Navalny envisioned a different Russia – one where the rule of law is respected, and “he knew it was a cause worth fighting for – and even worth dying for,” Biden said.

While “we don’t know exactly what happened” to Navalny, who Russian authorities said collapsed during a walk, “there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the consequence of something Putin and his thugs did,” Biden said.

“Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible.”

Navalny was long a threat to Putin, rallying Russians to rise up against authoritarianism. In a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle on what were widely seen as trumped-up charges, Navalny had survived a poisoning attempt in 2020. Navalny blamed the attack on the Kremlin, which denied it.

Navalny’s death fueled an ongoing policy and political fight over Putin, Russia and what the United States should be doing to help neighboring Ukraine and prevent Putin from casting his territorial ambitions further afield.

Former President Donald Trump – who has yet to comment on the internationally condemned death of Navalny – has said several times recently that he would let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that have not ponied up enough in defense spending.

Biden paused after noting the “dangerous” remark made by his likely November election foe.

“I guess I should clear my mind a little bit and not say what I’m really thinking … but this is an outrageous thing for a president to say,” Biden said.

The same day, the Biden-Kamala Harris campaign released an ad slamming Trump for his attacks on NATO, “the cornerstone of American security.”

With images including the fall of the Berlin Wall – and a photo of Trump looking chummy with Putin – the ad notes that “every president since Truman has been a rock solid supporter of NATO,” but that Trump “wants to walk away from NATO.”

Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, was more oblique in his remarks – but implicitly criticized his former boss.

“There is no room in the Republican Party for apologists for Putin,” Pence wrote on social media.

Biden also had harsh words for House Republicans, who went on a recess without passing a foreign aid package that includes $60 billion worth of military equipment to Ukraine to stave off Russia’s ongoing invasion.

“It’s about time they stepped up, don’t you think? Instead of going on a two-week vacation?” Biden said. “Two weeks and walking away. Two weeks! What are they thinking? My God. This is bizarre. And it’s just reinforcing all the concern – and I won’t say panic, but real concern – about the United States being a reliable ally,” Biden said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said the House would not consider a foreign aid package without border security provisions included in it. However, House Republican leaders refused to hold a vote on a bipartisan, Senate-negotiated package that indeed included border security funding and policy changes.

In Munich, at an international security conference, world leaders mourned the loss of Navalny and cast accusatory eyes at Putin. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, made a surprise visit to the event to speak.

“I thought for a long time whether I should come out here or fly straight to my children,” she said. “But then I thought about what Alexei would do in my place. And I’m sure he’d be here, he’d be on this stage.”

Meanwhile, some leading Republicans used the death of the Russian opposition leader to cast Trump, too, as a martyr.

“As the world reflects on the murder of Alexei Navalny at the hands of Putin, it’s worth remembering that Democrats are actively doing Biden’s bidding as they also try to imprison his chief political opponent, Donald Trump, remove him from the ballot, and ensure he dies in prison,” former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York wrote on social media.