US President Joe Biden said on Monday he was “considering” additional sanctions against his counterpart Vladimir Putin's Russia, three days after the death of his opponent Alexei Navalny.
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“We already have sanctions, but we are in the process of thinking about more, yes,” the Democratic leader, who already considered President Putin “responsible” for Navalny’s death, announced on Friday in an Arctic prison, answered reporters.
The United States and the European Union have already imposed a series of sanctions against Moscow since the outbreak of war following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
And President Biden indicated Saturday that he had expressed his “confidence” to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in continuing American military aid to Kyiv, which is currently blocked by the House of Representatives of Congress.
The Democratic-majority Senate approved a new package that includes $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine, which is desperately demanding it from the United States and its Western allies.
But the leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, refuses to vote on the project.
Democratic President Biden assured on Monday that he would be “pleased” to discuss with Mr. Johnson, whose positions on the November presidential election are influenced by the arch-favorite of the Republican primaries, former President Donald Trump.
The latter requires that stricter immigration laws be passed in Congress before any new financial aid to Ukraine.
“The way they (Republicans) are turning away from the threat that Russia poses, the way they are turning away from NATO and our commitments, is just shocking,” President Biden thundered while campaigning for his Re-election.