Biden meets Navalny's widow, sets sanctions
The president expressed his condolences to the family of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny
What happened?
President Joe Biden met with Yulia and Daria Navalnaya, the widow and daughter of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, in San Francisco to "express his heartfelt condolences" for Navalny's death in a Russian prison and to preview Friday's retaliatory "major new sanctions against Russia," the White House said. In Russia, Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said she was "secretly" shown her son's body, told his death was from "natural causes," and warned she could only bury him if she agreed to a "secret funeral."
Who said what?
"By law, they're supposed to give me Alexei's body immediately," but "instead, they are blackmailing me," Lyudmila Navalnaya said. Russian President Vladimir Putin "is responsible for his death," Biden said. "We are not letting up."
The commentary
Biden's visit with Navalny's widow and the Kremlin's wrangling over his remains underscore "how pivotal a figure he is in Russian politics and around the world," and how nervous he makes the Kremlin — "even in death," The New York Times said. "It is hard to surprise us," said Navalny aide Ivan Zhdanov. But it's still shocking "a mother would be blackmailed with a rotting body in order to bring it to Moscow and bury it in secret."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
The new sanctions on 500 targets aim to further "damage and isolate Russia's economy" after its Ukraine invasion and Navalny's death, the Times said. But so far Russia has "largely weathered the restrictions," thanks largely to record oil purchases by China, India and Brazil.
-
Political cartoons for January 26Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include an ICE storm, the TikTok takeover, and Iranian-style reform
-
Winter storm lashes much of US South, East CoastSpeed Read The storm spread across 2,000 miles of the country
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purge
Speed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Ukraine, US and Russia: do rare trilateral talks mean peace is possible?Rush to meet signals potential agreement but scepticism of Russian motives remain
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
How oil tankers have been weaponisedThe Explainer The seizure of a Russian tanker in the Atlantic last week has drawn attention to the country’s clandestine shipping network
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
