Biden confirms new sanctions on Russia during a meeting in San Francisco with Navalny's widow

Joe Biden, the president of the United States, has announced that this Friday his Administration will announce new sanctions against Russia in response to the death of the opponent Alexei Navalny.

The president announced his decision in a meeting he held in San Francisco with the activist's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, and one of the couple's daughters, Dasha, who studies at Stanford University.

At the meeting, the president recognized “the value” and the legacy left by Navalni, who died on February 16 inside a prison in the Arctic Circle.

The president assured that the fight started by Vladimir Putin's enemy will continue to live on in Russia and around the world by those who mourn Navalny's death and believe in the values ​​of freedom, democracy and human rights.

“The president has expressed his admiration for his extraordinary courage and legacy in the fight against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia where everyone is equal under the law,” the White House said in a statement.

Biden has said he has no doubt that Putin is behind Navalny's death.

Since the beginning of this week, his government has hinted that it is preparing a new series of sanctions against Moscow.

John Kirby, the spokesman for National Security, had confirmed that the measures will be announced this Friday, one week after the death of the 47-year-old opponent.

The Executive, however, has not detailed what these would consist of.

In a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, Biden called Putin a “crazy son of a bitch.”

The president insulted his Russian counterpart at a fundraiser at the mansion of Gordon Getty, the fourth son of oil magnate J. Paul Getty.

At this event, the president spoke about several topics, including the climate emergency.

“It is the last existential threat.

It is the weather.

“We have a crazy son of a bitch like Putin and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflicts, but the existential threat to humanity is the climate,” Biden told a group of donors.

Kirby defended the president this Friday, ensuring that Biden used “plain and direct” words to describe the autocrat.

“This is how we must address the threat (...) in a clear, direct and transparent manner,” stressed the National Security spokesperson in Washington.

It is not the first time that Biden has launched an insult.

Despite speaking in whispers and being criticized for his age, the 81-year-old politician has a volcanic character, as the American press has documented on several occasions.

Axios assured last year that the president has a short fuse and that several of his advisors avoid being alone with him to avoid shouting and outbursts.

In January 2022, Biden insulted a Fox News White House correspondent with a “son of a bitch.”

He has also spoken in more than derogatory terms against the Chinese Government and Israel, one of the most important allies of the United States in the Middle East.

In another private meeting he called Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, an “imbecile” for the bloody offensive he is leading in Gaza.

This Wednesday, the president said that the Republican Party once had a “moral center, but it seems to have lost it.”

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