WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday denounced the Russian government over the reported death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“I’m literally both not surprised and outraged by the news reported death of Alexei Navalny,” Biden said.

“He bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence and they did all the all the bad things in the Putin government was doing,” the president said in remarks at the White House ahead of an afternoon trip to East Palestine, Ohio.

Let’s add this too after Steve’s grafs…

In 2021, Biden insisted he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin during a summit the two leaders had in Geneva, Switzerland, of “devastating” consequences if Navalny were to die in prison.

“I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Biden said, though he declined to specify which actions he would take, CNN reported at the time. 

“What do you think happens when he’s saying it’s not about hurting Navalny, all the stuff he says to rationalize the treatment of Navalny, and then he dies in prison?… It’s about trust. It’s about their ability to influence other nations in a positive way,” Biden added.

In his remarks, Biden called on Congress to pass a pending Senate-passed $60 billion military aid package for Ukraine, saying “this tragedy reminds us of the stakes in this moment.”

“We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did,” Biden said.

Asked about his prior threat of consequences against Putin if Navalny died, Biden said, “that was three years ago. In the meantime, they faced a hell of a lot of consequences.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.