WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden met the wife and daughter of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died last week, on Thursday “to express his heartfelt condolences”, the White House said.

During the meeting in California, Biden expressed his admiration 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”, the White House said in a statement.

Biden also affirmed that the United States would announce major new sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to Navalny’s death, it added.

The latest punitive measures will target a range of items, including Russia’s defence and industrial bases, along with sources of revenue for the economy, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan had previously said.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2024