“Very brave man”: Biden meets Alexei Navalny’s family, a critic of Putin

US President Joe Biden spoke to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as “a man of incredible courage” during his meeting with his wife and daughter on Thursday. Navalny passed away last week in a prison camp.

Speaking to reporters in California after Navalny’s passing, Biden restated Washington’s intention to apply a broad range of penalties on Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin.

After going on a stroll in the “Polar Wolf” prison colony above the Arctic Circle, where he was serving a three-decade term, 47-year-old Navalny unexpectedly passed away on Friday, according to the prison service.

After seeing Navalny’s wife Yulia and daughter Dasha, Biden said, “It’s amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that. He was a man of incredible courage.”

“I know that we’re going to be announcing the sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow.”

While most of the “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of penalties that would be announced in the next few days will target “Putin’s war machine” and fix loopholes in the current sanctions regimes, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said on Thursday that some will go after individuals accountable for Navalny’s killing.

The latest actions have been scheduled to coincide with the second anniversary of Russia’s complete invasion of Ukraine.

The White House claimed in a statement that the president sent Navalny’s family his “heartfelt condolences” before Biden addressed reporters.

He showed his appreciation for Navalny’s “extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone” during the California meeting, according to the White House.