Biden meets Navalny’s widow, daughter in S.F.
President Joe Biden met with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s widow and daughter in San Francisco on Thursday morning.
Biden met with the two women to “express his heartfelt condolences for their terrible loss following the death of Aleksey Navalny in a Russian prison,” the White House said in a statement. Biden also told them personally of his plans to announce major new sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to Navalny’s death and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Navalny’s death Friday in an Arctic penal colony at age 47 caused an uproar across the world. Navalny’s mother said she was told he died from natural causes. His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has repeatedly said she believes Russian President Vladimir Putin killed Navalny because of his criticism of the president, who is believed to be behind the untimely deaths of many foes, including journalists, politicians, human rights activists and former business allies.
Navalnaya learned of her husband’s death while at the annual Munich Security Conference. Shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris left the stage, Navalnaya unexpectedly appeared on it.
She expressed disbelief at the reporting of his death from Russian government sources, but delivered an impassioned speech vowing that Putin and his associates will “know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband. And this day will come very soon.”
As Navalnaya walked offstage, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, reached out to her and offered her condolences. Later, she met with Harris.
Navalnaya, who has typically stayed out of the limelight, posted a video Monday vowing to continue her late husband’s work.
“Putin killed the father of my children, Putin took away the most precious thing I had, the closest and most beloved person — but Putin also took Navalny from you,” she said.
Navalnaya posted to X early Thursday morning that she was with her daughter Daria “Dasha” Navalnaya, who is a student at Stanford University.
Biden’s official X account posted that Navalny’s “legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha, and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights.”
The meeting had not been on Biden’s official schedule, and no reporters were allowed in the room.
Biden made a brief statement to reporters later in the day about the meeting and said “we are not letting up” on Putin and Russia.
The White House slammed House Republicans for going on “vacation” without first approving funding for Ukraine and Israel, spokesperson Andrew Bates wrote in a memo Wednesday first reported by Politico. Lawmakers are currently back in their districts to meet with constituents and staff as part of a planned district work period.
Later in the day as Biden was leaving his hotel, a group of protesters marched through the lobby and hallways chanting and singing for a cease-fire in Gaza. They chanted, “Biden, Biden you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide” and unfurled a banner that said, “Stop funding genocide: End all U.S. aid to Israel.”