Biden announces that he is considering imposing additional sanctions on Russia following the death of Navalny

US President Joe Biden announced Monday that he is “considering imposing additional sanctions” on Moscow after the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison.

Biden told reporters in Washington, “There are sanctions that we are basically imposing, but we are considering additional sanctions,” noting that he had previously held Russian President Vladimir Putin and his clique directly responsible for Navalny’s death last week.

Washington and its allies in the West have imposed sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, although they have so far failed to get it to stop the attack.

But there have recently been growing doubts about Washington’s future commitments to Ukraine.

With current US funding drying up, Donald Trump’s allies in the House of Representatives are delaying a new $60 billion military aid package.

Trump, the Republican Party’s front-runner for the November presidential election, opposes aid to Kiev, and recently used his influence to block the passage of a bill linked to the immigration crisis at the US border that would have allowed additional funding to Ukraine.

Biden denounced Republicans again on Monday for not passing the aid package.

“The way they are turning their backs on the Russian threat and the way they are turning their backs on NATO and fulfilling our obligations can only be described as shocking,” he said.

But he pointed out that he would be happy to meet Speaker of the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, noting that the latter assured reporters that he has no intention of even allowing a voting session to be held on the package.

“I would certainly be happy to meet him if he had something to say,” Biden said.

He added that he hopes that Navalny’s death will make a difference regarding the approval of aid, adding that, however, he’s not sure.

For his part, Donald Trump on Monday broke his silence regarding the death of Alexei Navalny in a statement in which he avoided criticizing the Kremlin, considering that the sudden death of the Russian opposition leader is an indication of the deterioration of the United States.

Navalny died in unclear circumstances at the age of 47 in an Arctic prison last week, which was a shock to the Russian opposition in exile and prompted senior Western officials to hold President Vladimir Putin and the authorities in Moscow responsible for his death.

However, former US President Donald Trump, who is considered the most likely to win the Republican Party nomination for the November presidential elections, remained silent about the issue in the face of increasing criticism until he mentioned the incident in a post on a social media platform on Monday, in which he focused on what he described… “America is deteriorating”.

Trump said on Truth Social, “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny made me more aware of what is happening in our country… It’s a slow and steady deterioration with corrupt politicians, prosecutors, and judges from the extreme left leading us toward destruction”.

Trump also denounced what he said were open borders, rigged elections, and blatantly unfair decisions in the courts in the United States, which he said was “a nation in decline”.

Trump didn’t mention the Russian government or Putin in his post.

In response to his statements, his rival seeking the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley, described the post as “unbalanced” and said that Trump was “declaring himself as the victim”.

“Did he denounce Putin as the brutal criminal that he really is?”

her campaign said in a statement, “both… Did he praise Navalny’s courageous struggle? Both… Did he acknowledge Putin’s role in killing Navalny and many others who dared to stand up to the Russian dictator? of course not”.

The statement comes a day after Haley, who trailed far behind Trump in the Republican Party primaries, criticized the former president for his silence about Navalny’s death, describing the matter as troubling and representing a problem.

Trump recently also caused shock among Washington’s Western allies after he said that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO members who don’t fulfill their financial obligations.

A number of right-wing extremists in the United States, including Trump, have long expressed their admiration for Putin.

The former president once described him as a “genius” and more credible than the US intelligence services.