Secretary of State Tony Blinken said during a confirmation hearing on Tuesday that it was “extraordinary how afraid Vladimir Putin seems to be of one man” – Alexey Navalny.
Why it matters: Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, Navalny, returned to Russia on Sunday and was quickly arrested. He spent the past five months recovering in Germany after being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. His detention poses an early foreign policy challenge to the Biden government.
What he says: Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Navalny served as the voice for millions of Russians, “and their voice must be heard in Russia.”
- “The attempts to silence that voice by silencing Mr. Navalny are something we strongly condemn,” added Blinken, noting that the arrest of Navalny and other points of tension with Russia “is very high on the agenda. agenda would represent an incoming board. “
- Upcoming National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan earlier called for Navalny’s Immediate Release.
The last: Navalny was ordered to remain in custody for 30 days. He was officially arrested for breaking the terms of a suspended prison sentence for missing an appointment in December.
Worth nothing: Blinken praised Senator Mitt Romney, who is on the committee, for being ‘prescient’ about Russia. Romney was laughed at for referring to Russia as America’s “number one geopolitical enemy” in a presidential debate with Barack Obama in 2012, including by Obama himself.
Go deeper: Bill Browder on Russia-US relations after Alexei Navalny’s arrest