Joe Biden points finger at Putin after death of Alexei Navalny

Evening Standard

Transcript

00:00 >> Good afternoon.

00:02 I'm heading off to East Palestine in a moment,

00:06 but I wanted to say a few things this morning

00:09 about Alexei Navalny.

00:11 You know, like millions of people around the world,

00:16 I'm literally both not surprised and outraged by the news

00:21 reported death of Alexei Navalny.

00:24 He bravely stood up to the corruption,

00:27 the violence and all the bad things

00:32 that the Putin government was doing.

00:34 In response, Putin had him poisoned.

00:37 He had him arrested.

00:40 He had him prosecuted for fabricated crimes.

00:42 He was sentenced to prison. He was held in isolation.

00:45 Even all that didn't stop him from calling out Putin's lies.

00:50 Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth,

00:54 which is kind of amazing when you think about it.

00:57 And he could have lived safely in exile

00:59 after the assassination attempt on him in 2020,

01:02 which nearly killed him, I might add.

01:05 And but he was traveling outside the country at the time.

01:08 Instead, he returned to Russia.

01:10 He returned to Russia,

01:12 knowing he'd likely be imprisoned or even killed

01:16 if he continued his work.

01:18 But he did it anyway because he believed

01:21 so deeply in his country, in Russia.

01:23 Reports of his death, if they're true,

01:26 and I have no reason to believe they're not,

01:28 Russian authorities are going to tell their own story.

01:31 But make no mistake, make no mistake,

01:33 Putin is responsible for Navalny's death.

01:37 Putin is responsible.

01:39 What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof

01:42 of Putin's brutality.

01:44 No one should be fooled, not in Russia,

01:46 not at home, not anywhere in the world.

01:48 Putin does not only target his citizens of other countries,

01:52 as we've seen what's going on in Ukraine right now.

01:55 He also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people.

01:58 And as people across Russia and around the world

02:01 are mourning Navalny today

02:03 because he was so many things that Putin was not.

02:06 He was brave. He was principled.

02:09 He was dedicated to building a Russia

02:11 where the rule of law existed

02:14 and where it applied to everybody.

02:17 Navalny believed in that Russia, that Russia.

02:20 He knew it was a cause worth fighting for

02:24 and obviously even dying for.

02:26 This tragedy reminds us of the stakes of this moment.

02:29 We have to provide the funding so Ukraine

02:32 can keep defending itself against Putin's vicious onslaughts

02:37 and war crimes.

02:38 [END]

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