US weighs response to Navalny's reported death

Following Friday's report of Russian opposition leader and political prisoner Alexei Navalny's death at a Siberian penal colony under suspicious circumstances, top Biden administration officials swiftly responded by emphasizing that the Kremlin was clearly to blame for the demise of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic.

But fulfilling President Joe Biden's 2021 vow to the Russia leader that Navalny's death in prison would result in "devastating" consequences for Russia will likely pose a steep challenge to the administration as it attempts to calibrate a response that is both impactful and avoids significant escalation with Moscow.

During remarks on Navalny's reported death, Biden seemed to downplay the significance of imposing the stiff repercussions he threatened during his summit with Putin in Geneva.

"That was three years ago. In the meantime, they faced a hell of a lot of consequences," Biden said, referring to Russia's military losses and the "great sanctions" imposed "across the board" resulting from Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"And we're contemplating what else can be done," he continued.

The administration has few reasonable options left in its toolbox.

Even though Navalny has been jailed in Russia since early 2021, repeatedly allegedly mistreated, and even went missing for three weeks in late 2023, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter say the administration had not prepared any measures to be imposed if additional harm befell him.

The officials say the U.S. is now weighing additional sanctions against human rights violators connected to his imprisonment.

The Biden administration has deployed similar sanctions as recently as August, when it announced financial penalties and visa restrictions against four Russians accused of playing a part in Navalny's 2020 poisoning on a flight to Moscow. The Biden administration also issued a slate of sanctions connected to the attempted assassination in 2021.

Separate from Navalny, the U.S. has also levied sanctions against Moscow in response to its wrongful detention of American citizens and other foreign nationals in recent years, and it coordinated with allies to impose sweeping measures against Russia's defense industrial complex, energy exports, its financial sector and other industries following the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Despite the extensive suite of sanctions and trade restrictions, Russia's economy has continued to grow -- with Moscow finding new trade avenues for its oil in partners like India and the United Arab Emirates, as well as to China for a steady supply of vital imports.

During his remarks on Friday, Biden sought to depict the Kremlin's treatment of Navalny as further evidence of Putin's cruelty.

"What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world," he said.

Making that point to lawmakers in Washington is of urgent importance to the president, as he attempts to push a national security funding package that would provide badly needed assistance for Ukraine's war efforts through the Republican-controlled House.

"This tragedy reminds us of the stakes in this moment. We have to provide the funding so Ukraine can keep defending itself against Putin's vicious onslaughts and war crimes," he said.

Other administration officials in Germany for the Munich Security Conference delivered the administration's first public reactions to news of Navalny's death on Friday, attempting to strike what officials described as a calibrated tone -- underscoring Moscow's culpability but emphasizing that the U.S. had not yet independently verified the developments.

"First and foremost, if these reports are accurate, our hearts go out to his wife and to his family," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, adding that Navalny's death in detention would underscore "the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built."

"We'll be talking to many other countries concerned about Alexei Navalny, especially if these reports bear out to be true," Blinken continued.

Vice President Kamala Harris, also in Munich, said the U.S. was still "working to confirm" the reports of Navalany's death.

"Whatever story they tell, let us be clear, Russia is responsible," she said.

Blinken and Harris met privately with Navalny's wife, Yulia, who also spoke at the conference.

She initially expressed skepticism over the news of her husband's demise, which was announced in a statement from Russia's prison service that claimed he collapsed after a walk and could not be revived, although "all necessary resuscitation measures were carried out" by medical teams.

Two administration officials said the U.S. had not received any recent communication on Navalny from Moscow through private channels between countries, but that they saw no evidence the Russian reports were false.