THE US President Joe Biden met today in San Francisco with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya, the widow and daughter of Alexei Navalny, who died in prison on February 16, the White House announced.

During this meeting in California, away from the public eye, the American president “expressed his deepest condolences” and his “admiration for the amazing courage” of the Russian dissident as well as for his “fight against corruption and for a of free and democratic Russia,” according to the White House statement.

Biden also said the United States would announce major new sanctions against Moscow tomorrow, Friday, in response to Navalny’s death, Russia’s repression and aggression, and its war in Ukraine, it added.

The latest punitive measures will target various sectors — such as defense, industry and other sources of revenue for the Russian economy — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier.

At the same time, White House spokesman John Kirby said that Alexei Navalny’s mother “must be able to get her child’s body back and give him the honors he deserves.” “The Russians must give her back her son,” he insisted, after the Russian’s mother defiantly accused authorities of “blackmailing” her into burying him in secret.