'Russia’s Responsible': U.S. Leaders React To Reports Of Alexei Navalny’s Death

U.S. officials on Friday squarely cast blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin for the reported death of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny while acknowledging that it is still working to confirm the news out of Russia.

“If confirmed, this would be a further sign of Putin’s brutality,” Vice President Kamala Harris said while giving a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, which was attended by Navalny’s wife. “Whatever story they tell, let us be clear, Russia is responsible.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan similarly reacted with criticism of Putin while citing his government’s history of suppression and brutality.

“Russia’s responsible for this,” Blinken told reporters. “The fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built.”

“If it’s confirmed, it is a terrible tragedy,” Sullivan separately told NPR. “Given the Russian government’s long and sordid history of doing harm to its opponents, it raises real and obvious questions about what happened here.”

European leaders were also quick to blame Putin and memorialize Navalny as a martyr for democracy.

Russia has “some very serious questions to answer,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. “Alexei Navalny has been a strong voice for freedom, for democracy for many years and NATO and NATO allies have called for his release for a long time.”

European Council president Charles Michel also slammed Russia.

“The [European Union] holds the Russian regime for sole responsible for this tragic death,” he said in a statement. “Alexei Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For his ideals, he made the ultimate