WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden on Feb 16 blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for Alexei Navalny’s death, saying he was “not surprised” but “outraged” by the opposition leader’s passing.

“We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Nalvany was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did,” Mr Biden said, at the White House after Russian prison officials said Navalny had died.

“Russian authorities are going to tell their own story,” Mr Biden said.

“But make no mistake. Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.”

He was “contemplating” additional steps to punish Russia in the aftermath of Navalny’s death, paying tribute to the opposition leader for “bravely” standing up to the Putin government’s “corruption” and “violence”.

“We’re contemplating what else can be done,” Mr Biden said in response to questions from reporters.

“We’re looking at a whole number of options, that’s all I’ll say right now.”

Mr Biden also told reporters that there was “no nuclear threat to the people of America or anywhere else in the world with what Russia is doing at the moment”, even as Russia considered deploying anti-satellite technology in space. Russia has previously denied the claim.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what possible steps against Russia were being evaluated.

US officials were still seeking more information about Navalny’s death in a Russian penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, where he was dispatched less than two months ago.

But the development, and Mr Biden’s reaction, has put a further chill into already bitter US-Russian relations.

The 47-year-old Navalny had been a leading critic of Mr Putin, and Mr Biden had said after meeting the Russian leader in Geneva in June 2021 that Navalny’s death would risk devastating consequences for Mr Putin.

Mr Biden and Mr Putin remain deeply at odds over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, and Mr Biden is urging Republican hardliners in the US Congress to support additional funding to pay for more weaponry for Ukraine’s military.

Russia has figured prominently on the campaign trail as Mr Biden seeks reelection in November.

His expected Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump, triggered bipartisan outrage last week by saying he would do nothing to defend Nato allies from Russia unless they paid a greater share for the alliance’s common defence.

The top Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has not put a Senate Bill for new funding for Ukraine up to a vote.

After Navalny’s death, he said the US and its allies should use “every means available to cut off Putin’s ability to fund his unprovoked war in Ukraine and aggression against the Baltic states”.

“History’s watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten,” Mr Biden said.

In Munich for a major security conference, Vice-President Kamala Harris vowed that the US would never retreat from its Nato alliance obligations put in place after World War II, contrasting Mr Biden’s approach to global engagement with presidential election hopeful Trump’s isolationist views.

She also met Navalny’s wife, Mrs Yulia Navalnaya, on the margins of the conference and “expressed her sorrow and outrage” over reports of her husband’s death, a White House official said.

Mr Biden’s presidential reelection campaign on Feb 16 released a new minute-long advertisement blasting Trump for abandoning Nato.

They planned to target the ad to 2.5 million American voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania who trace their ancestry to the Nato states bordering Russia. REUTERS