U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House he is considering additional sanctions against Russia over the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, CBS News reported on Feb. 19.
Navalny, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's main political opponent, died on Feb. 16 in a penal colony in the town of Kharp, Yamal Nenets Autonomous District. He had been convicted in several fabricated criminal cases as part of the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent.
Leaders around the world have blamed Putin for his death. Opinions differ on whether his death was caused by the harsh prison conditions or was an intentional murder.
The Russian government is still refusing to give Navalny's family access to his body.
Biden, who had previously stated Putin was responsible for Navalny's death, said that "we already have sanctions" but confirmed he is weighing new ones.
In 2021 Biden warned that there would be "devastating" consequences if Navalny died in jail.
However, he appeared to mitigate his position when asked about his warning on Feb. 16. He said that the U.S. had already imposed devastating sanctions on Russia before Navalny's death.
"We're contemplating what else can be done," Biden said then. "We're looking at a whole number of options, that's all I'll say right now."
Read also: Alexei Navalny’s life and death as main opponent to Putin regime
The US and EU imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow after Navalny was poisoned in Russia in 2020 with a Novichok nerve agent — a chemical weapon produced by the Russian government.
After the poisoning, Navalny was flown for treatment to Germany, and German doctors said he had been poisoned with Novichok.
The Insider, Bellingcat, CNN, and Der Spiegel published an investigation according to which Navalny had been poisoned by agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service. They also identified the agents' names.
The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, also said on Feb. 19 that EU member states would propose sanctions against those behind Navalny's death. Borrell said that Putin was the one ultimately responsible, and the EU's potential sanctions "can go down to the institutional structure of the penitentiary system in Russia."
He did not clarify what concrete actions would be taken.
Navalny had been serving a 2.5-year prison sentence since 2021 and a separate 9-year sentence on fraud charges since 2022.
A Russian court also sentenced Navalny to 19 years in a maximum security prison in August 2023 on extremism charges for creating the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
All these cases have been recognized as politically motivated and fabricated by international human rights organizations and governments.
Read also: Navalny’s death preceded by long list of Putin critics’ murders