U.S. President Joe Biden met Thursday in San Francisco with the widow and daughter of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, whose death the president alleged Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was responsible for.
The White House said Biden met with Yulia Navalnaya, 47, and Dasha Navalnaya, a Stanford University senior, “to express his heartfelt condolences for their terrible loss.”
Navalny’s “legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha, and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights,” Biden wrote on X on Thursday.
Today, I met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya – Aleksey Navalny's loved ones – to express my condolences for their devastating loss.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 22, 2024
Aleksey's legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha, and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights. pic.twitter.com/aiCcgTrws3
Russian officials said Navalny — the 47-year-old opposition leader who was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges that allies and advocates claimed were politically motivated — collapsed on Feb. 16 during a short walk in a Siberian penal colony.
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, alleged Monday that Putin was responsible for her husband’s death and that Russian officials were covering up the nature of his passing by refusing to return Navalny’s body to his mother.
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She saw her son’s body Thursday, Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X. Lyudmila Navalnaya alleged that Russian officials refused to hand over Navalny's body, instead telling her “where, when and how Alexei should be buried.”
Biden concluded a two-day fundraising trip to the Bay Area on Thursday, staying at the Fairmont Hotel in Nob Hill. He attended a fundraiser at Gordon Getty’s Pacific Heights home Wednesday, calling Putin a “crazy S.O.B.” during the event, according to pool reporters.
Russia has denied responsibility for Navalny’s death and claims that officials are covering it up. Putin told state TV reporters Thursday that Biden's comment in The City showed he was “absolutely right” to prefer Biden over former President Donald Trump in the November election.
Putin said this month that Biden’s reelection would be better for Russia than Trump returning to the White House, raising eyebrows after U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russia sought to boost the Republican’s campaigns in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
Biden was set to visit Los Altos Hills for another fundraiser Thursday night. Hundreds of protestors demonstrated near the site of Wednesday's fundraiser in The City, calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and demanding the U.S. end military aid to Israel.
