- Former Vice President Joe Biden apologizes to President Donald Trump for not challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin following the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
- “Donald Trump remains sociable to Russia, while Putin persecutes civil society and journalists,” Biden forced.
- Navalny is Putin’s most prominent critic. He was placed in hospital and in a coma, and sent to Germany for further treatment.
- Trump has for the most part remained silent on the matter as other world leaders offer Navalny assistance and asylum.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump for failing to hold back Russian President Vladimir Putin following the alleged poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
“Donald Trump remains sociable to Russia, while Putin persecutes civil society and journalists,” Biden forced. “Now opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after being poisoned. It is unacceptable. Unlike Trump, I will defend our democratic values and stand up against autocrats like Putin.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Navalny’s team suspects he was poisoned by the Kremlin through tea he drank before fleeing back to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk.
The anti-corruption champion is Putin’s most prominent critic. He campaigned to challenge Putin in 2018, but was prevented from running.
Although authorities initially denied that Navalny was not transferred from the Siberian hospital where he is being treated, Russian officials said on Friday that they would allow the politician to return to Germany after treatment.
Trump has barely acknowledged the suspected poisoning, which is part of a broader presidential trend that is undermining Putin’s authoritarian behavior.
“We’re looking at it,” Trump said Thursday when asked by a reporter about Navalny.
Meanwhile, other world leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that they were both ready to offer Navalny medical assistance and asylum.
While Trump has largely remained silent on the matter, National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien has expressed his concerns.
“It’s extraordinary and if the Russians were behind this … it’s something we’ll be part of how we deal with the Russians going forward,” Navalny’s O’Brien said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.
