White House to target Russia with 'major sanctions' in response to Navalny's death

The White House will announce a new «major sanctions» package on Friday «to hold Russia accountable» for the death of Alexei Navalny, the longtime Russian opposition politician and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby.

«Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it's clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr. Navalny's death,» Kirby said Tuesday morning. «In response and at President [Joe] Biden's direction, we will be announcing a major sanctions package on Friday of this week to hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny.»

Kirby did not go into detail about what the new sanctions package would include, but noted the sanctions will also work to hold Russia accountable for its ongoing war with Ukraine.

«I think what you'll see in this package that we're going to be announcing Friday is a set of sanctions — a regime that not only is designed to hold Mr. Putin accountable for now two years of war in Ukraine, but also specifically supplemented with additional sanctions regarding Mr. Navalny's death,» Kirby said.

Last week, Navalny died in prison at age 47. Shortly after news of Navalny's death, Biden placed the blame directly on Putin.

«We don't know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the result of something that Putin and his friends did,» Biden said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that «Russia is responsible for this.»

Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, on Tuesday called for the remains to be returned so they could be «buried with dignity.»

She released a video in which she alleged that Navalny's body was being kept from the family because he