US reaction to Navalny’s death another attempt to interfere in Russia’s domestic affairs

Publications 17 February, 2024 13:09

A reaction on behalf of the United States following the death of Russian blogger Alexey Navalny is another attempt of the American authorities to interfere in Russia’s domestic policy, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said.

"The death of a person is always a tragedy," the Russian ambassador stated. "In this situation it is extremely important to figure out all the details of the occurrence."

"However, local [US] politicians do not want to wait and have already blamed the Russian authorities," Antonov continued. "Here arises a quite natural question: who is the judge? There is another attempt to interfere in the internal policy of the Russian Federation. And death is just an excuse."

"Such a policy is unacceptable. It would be better for local leaders to focus on the problems of their country that require urgent measures," Antonov noted.

According to the Russian ambassador: "Here they are looking for a reason for derogatory attacks, and most importantly, for the introduction of additional sanctions. The main task is to save collapsing Pax Americana based on so called rules."

US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Washington was considering "a whole number of options" following the death of Russian blogger Alexey Navalny in prison. "We are looking at a whole number of options," he said when asked, if the US could toughen sanctions against Russia due to Navalny’s death.

"The answer is we don't know exactly what happened. But there is no doubt that the death of the volunteer was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did," the US president stated.

The Federal Penitentiary Service’s Directorate for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region said on February 16 that Navalny had died in penal colony No.3 on February 16. According to the penitentiary authority, Navalny felt sick after a walk and fainted. Medics arrived immediately but their more than 30-minute resuscitation efforts failed.

The Public Monitoring Commission of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region said that Navalny had not complained either about his health or about his incarceration conditions. The region’s human rights ombudsperson also said Navalny made no complaints.

Meanwhile, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov slammed the West’s statements concerning Navalny’s death as rabid and totally inadmissible, bearing in mind that there is no official information about the cause of his death.