From Washington to Munich, the world reacted to news of Navalny’s death at a precarious time for transatlantic relations.
The shock waves of Alexei Navalny’s death rippled across the Atlantic.
In Washington, President Joe Biden blamed Vladimir Putin for the dissident’s shock demise. Hours earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris did the same in Munich. On Capitol Hill and in the halls of a swank hotel in the Bavarian capital, lawmakers in both parties called for punishing Russia and further arming Ukraine.
And in the electoral arena, both the Biden campaign and Nikki Haley, the last major Republican challenger to Donald Trump, assailed the former president for his past praise of Putin.
Navalny’s death provided a capstone to a week in which Russia once again became the central issue of concern across American politics, including new intelligence on Moscow’s anti-satellite capabilities in space and in the entrenched debate over Ukraine aid on Capitol Hill. The news also shook officials and dignitaries at the Munich Security Conference, who expressed outrage and shed tears at his death.
“Like millions of people around the world, I’m not surprised and outraged by the news,” Biden said at the White House. “Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. What has happened to Navalny is more proof of Putin’s brutality” — a near word-for-word echo of what Harris told the conference’s audience.
Biden praised Navalny’s bravery, saying that “even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth.” He savaged Putin for targeting citizens of other countries while also inflicting “terrible crimes on his own people.”
Navalny, 47, Putin’s longtime political opponent, died in prison Friday, according to Russia’s federal prison service. While the prison service said he collapsed during a walk, there was immediate speculation that Putin had a hand in his death. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has been fighting off Russia’s invasion for nearly two years, said “it’s obvious” that Putin killed him.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/16/kamala-harris-russia-navalny-00141888