President Joe Biden announced more than 500 new sanctions on Russia following the news of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death.
To mark the second anniversary of the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, Biden announced the sanctions because of the war and in response to Navalny’s death, a Friday statement read. The targets of the sanctions, Biden said, include those who were connected to Navalny’s imprisonment, Russia’s financial sector and its defense industrial base. (RELATED: Vladimir Putin Says He Wants Biden To Win In 2024)
“Today, I am announcing more than 500 new sanctions against Russia for its ongoing war of conquest on Ukraine and for the death of Aleksey Navalny, who was a courageous anti-corruption activist and Putin’s fiercest opposition leader,” Biden said in a statement. “These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents. They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.”
The United States is additionally implementing export restrictions which, Biden said, would affect nearly “100 entities for providing backdoor support for Russia’s war machine.”
Biden previously promised in 2021 that the death of Navalny would bring “devastating” consequences for Russia.
“I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of [Navalny dying in prison] would be devastating for Russia,” Biden said in 2021 following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a news conference in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on December 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Navanly’s death was reported Monday by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service. According to the agency, the Russian opposition leader fell ill after taking a walk in a prison colony above the Arctic Circle. Shortly after the walk, Navalny reportedly lost consciousness.
Following the news of Navanly’s death, Biden gave an address, using time in his public remarks to criticize House Republicans who have yet to pass a package that would provide funding for Ukraine. The president gave an unexpected speech regarding the news, adding that the tragedy reminds Americans of the “stakes of this moment” as Ukraine fights its war against Russia. Biden also bashed Republicans for taking a two week recess while the Ukraine aid stalled.
“There was a bipartisan Senate vote that passed overwhelmingly in the United States Senate to fund Ukraine,” Biden said in his address. “Now, as I have said before, and I mean this in a literal sense, history is watching. History is watching the House of Representatives. A failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten. It is going to go down in the pages of history. It really is. It’s consequential, and the clock is ticking.”