(SAN FRANCISCO) — President Joe Biden met with the widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, and his daughter, Dasha, on Thursday during the president’s trip to California.
Navalny, the longtime Russian opposition politician and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in prison last week at age 47.
After her husband’s death, Yulia Navalnaya accused Putin of being involved in his death and has vowed to continue his work.
“The President expressed his admiration for Aleksey 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,” the White House said in a statement. “The President emphasized that Aleksey’s legacy will carry on through people across Russia and around the world mourning his loss and fighting for freedom, democracy, and human rights.”
Images of the San Francisco meeting posted on the president’s X show him speaking with the two women and hugging Yulia Navalnaya.
Today, I met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya – Aleksey Navalny’s loved ones – to express my condolences for their devastating loss.
Aleksey’s legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha, and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights. pic.twitter.com/aiCcgTrws3
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 22, 2024
Following the meeting, Biden called Navalny “a man of incredible courage” and said it was “amazing” how his wife and daughter “are emulating that.”
Navalnaya is “gonna continue to fight,” said Biden.
The White House has said it is set to announce “major new sanctions” against Russia on Friday in response to Navalny’s death as well as its “repression and aggression, and its brutal and illegal war in Ukraine.”
Earlier this week, White House national security spokesman John Kirby did not go into detail about what the new sanctions package would include.
Navalny’s cause of death has been listed as “natural” on his medical report, according to Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh, who was relayed the information on the death certificate by Navalny’s mother. His mother also said the Russian government is blackmailing her and trying to force her to have a secret funeral for her son.
Kirby hammered Russia on the reporting that they were making demands of Navalny’s mother in order for her to receive his body.
Kirby said he could not confirm that she was being “blackmailed,” but “nevertheless, this is the man’s mother. It’s not enough that she gets to see the body of her son. She should be able to collect the body of her son so that she can properly memorialize her son and her son’s bravery and courage and service and do all the things that any mother would want to do for a son lost in such a tragic way.”
“The Russians need to give her back to her son and they need to answer for … specifically what befell Mr. Navalny and … acknowledge that they in fact, are responsible for his demise,” Kirby said.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
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