Joe Biden meets Alexei Navalny's widow and daughter and promises sanctions on Putin
US President Joe Biden has met the wife and daughter of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in prison, and called him "a man of incredible courage".
Speaking to reporters in California on Thursday, Mr Biden reiterated that Washington plans to hit Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin with a wide array of sanctions following Mr Navalny's death.
Mr Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died suddenly last week after a walk at the "Polar Wolf" penal colony above the Arctic Circle where he was serving a 30-year sentence, the prison service said.
"He was a man of incredible courage and it's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that," Mr Biden said after meeting Mr Navalny's wife Yulia and daughter Dasha.
"I know that we're going to be announcing the sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow."
Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said on Thursday that some of the "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" of sanctions to be unveiled in the coming days would target those responsible for Navalny's death, but most would hit "Putin's war machine" and close gaps in existing sanctions regimes.
The new measures are timed to mark the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The White House said in a statement the president conveyed his "heartfelt condolences" to Mr Navalny's family.
During the meeting in California, he expressed his admiration for Mr Navalny's "extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone", the White House said.