U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday met the spouse and daughter of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition chief who died final week, “to express his heartfelt condolences”, the White House stated.

During the assembly in California, Biden expressed his admiration for Navalny’s “extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone”, the White House stated in a press release.

Biden additionally affirmed that the United States will announce main new sanctions in opposition to Russia on Friday in response to Navalny’s demise, Russia’s repression and aggression and its struggle in Ukraine, it added.

The newest punitive measures will goal a spread of things, together with the nation’s protection and industrial bases, together with sources of income for the financial system, White House nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan had beforehand stated.

Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died all of the sudden on Friday after a stroll on the “Polar Wolf” penal colony above the Arctic Circle the place he was serving a three-decade sentence, the jail service stated.