UPDATE - Biden says Putin 'responsible' for opposition leader Navalny's death

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden laid the blame for Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny's death squarely on President Vladimir Putin Friday, saying the death is "proof" of the Russian president's "brutality."

The US president said Washington does not know the exact details of Navalny's death, but added, "there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did."

"Russian authorities are going to tell their own story. Make no mistake, make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny's death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality," Biden said during remarks televised from the White House. "No one should be fooled."

The Russian penitentiary service said on Friday that opposition figure Alexei Navalny, 47, died in a prison colony while serving his sentence. The service said in a statement that Navalny lost consciousness after a walk in the Arctic Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, where the prison is located.

Russian authorities have said they are carrying out investigations to determine the facts surrounding the death of Putin's critic.

The president in June 2021 warned Putin of "devastating" consequences if Navalny died, and when asked by reporters at the White House what the US response would entail, the president said, "we're looking at a whole number of options."

He said that in the three years since he made the threat, Moscow had paid "a hell of a lot of consequences" following its invasion of Ukraine.

"We're contemplating what else could be done," he said.

Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's wife, said Friday that she is uncertain whether she should believe reports about her husband's death.

Navalnaya expressed her skepticism at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, saying all information about her husband's death is coming only from Russian state sources.

“I don’t know whether to believe those terrible news that we are getting only from the state sources,” she said.

If the information is true, she will hold Russian President Vladimir Putin, his friends and the government accountable, Navalnaya said.

“I would like Putin to know that he, all his encirclement, friends, his government will bear responsibility for what they have done with our country, with my family and husband,” she said.

Navalny was arrested in Jan. 2021 after being treated for poisoning in a German hospital. Western countries and Navalny himself blamed Russia for the poisoning, a claim the Kremlin denies.

In August, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for extremism and other crimes. He was already serving an 11-year and five-month jail sentence for fraud.