US President Joe Biden has said he is “contemplating” steps to punish Moscow after he blamed Vladimir Putin and his “thugs” for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Mr Navalny as the “fiercest advocate for Russian democracy”, while Canadian leader Justin Trudeau said his passing is a reminder of “exactly what a monster Putin is”.
Mr Navalny had been serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges in Russia’s Polar Wolf penal colony north of the Arctic Circle.
Russian prison authorities said he died after feeling unwell following a walk on Friday.
Speaking at the White House after the reports emerged, Mr Biden paid tribute to a man he said “bravely” stood up to the Russian president’s “corruption” and “violence”.
Mr Biden continued: “Russian authorities are going to tell their own story.
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“But make no mistake. Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.”
He added: “We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Nalvany was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
The White House is still seeking more information about Mr Navalny’s death, but the development has put a further chill into already frosty relations between Washington DC and Moscow.
Mr Biden had warned Mr Putin after they met in Geneva in June 2021 that Mr Navalny’s death would lead to devastating consequences for the Kremlin.
Asked what consequences Mr Putin will face, Mr Biden said at the White House on Friday: “That was three years ago, in the meantime they have faced a hell of a lot of consequences.”
He referenced sanctions Moscow has faced since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and the hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers who have been killed in the conflict.
Mr Biden said he is“contemplating what else could be done”, but added that when he issued the warning in 2021 there were no sanctions already in place.
The US president also urged Republican hardliners in Congress to support additional funding to pay for more weaponry for Ukraine’s military nearly two years after the country was invaded by Russian forces.
He said: “History’s watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten.”
The Russian president himself has not commented on Mr Navalny’s death, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin had been made aware of the development.
Mr Peskov, who said he could not reveal any details as to how Mr Navalny died, added that the reaction of Western leaders has been “unacceptable” and “absolutely rabid”.
Sunak, Macron and Scholz respond to ‘huge tragedy’
Among those world leaders was Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said the jailed dissident’s death was “terrible news”.
“My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy,” Mr Sunak said.
“As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life,” he added.
Lord Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary, said that Mr Navanly had “fought bravely against corruption” throughout his life.
He continued: “Putin’s Russia fabricated charges against him, poisoned him, sent him to an Arctic penal colony and now he has tragically died.
“Putin should be accountable for what has happened – no one should doubt the dreadful nature of his regime.”
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Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was “obvious” Mr Putin was responsible, adding that the Russian leader doesn’t care who dies so long as his position is secure.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “anger and indignation” over Mr Navalny’s death, adding that Russia is a place where “free spirits are put in the gulag and sentenced to death”.
He said the treatment of Mr Navalny shows the “weakness of the Kremlin and their fear of all opponents”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Mr Navalny’s death makes clear “what kind of regime this is” and that he had “probably now paid for (his) courage with his life”.
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The life and death of Alexei Navalny
EU says it will ‘spare no efforts’ to hold Kremlin to account
The European Union demanded Moscow immediately release all political prisoners after the death of Mr Navalny.
The Russian opposition leader was “slowly murdered” by Mr Putin, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and vice president Josep Borrell said in a joint statement.
“We will spare no efforts to hold the Russian political leadership and authorities to account,” they added.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the country’s CBC Radio that Mr Navalny was a “strong fighter for democracy, for freedoms for the Russian people”.
He added: “It really shows the extent to which Putin… will crack down on anyone who is fighting for freedom for the Russian people… It is a tragedy and it’s something that has the entire world being reminded of exactly what a monster Putin is.”
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She said: “I don’t know whether to believe or not this terrible news that we only receive from Russian government sources… But if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around him to know that they will be held accountable for everything they did to our country, to my family. And this day will come very soon.”
Meanwhile, flowers have been laid at vigils for Mr Navalny in Russia and across Europe.
People gathered at the Wall of Sorrow, in Moscow, a memorial to victims of political repression under Joseph Stalin, while others laid flowers at a memorial for victims of political repression in St Petersburg.
Protesters have also gathered outside the Russian Embassy in central London.
Iran’s president and foreign minister have died after their helicopter crashed in mountains.
The deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were confirmed by officials after rescuers found the chopper’s burned wreckage on Monday morning, more than 12 hours after it came down in bad weather.
Iranian media said the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province killed eight people in all, including three crew members on the helicopter, which Iran purchased in the early 2000s.
Five days of national mourning have been declared by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Rescuers reach helicopter crash site
Funeral processions will be held in several Iranian cities on Tuesday.
The bodies of Mr Raisi and Mr Amirabdollahian will be flown to the central Iranian city of Qom, where the late president studied, and then brought to the capital Tehran, where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to lead congregational funeral prayers.
Mr Raisi, Iran’s eighth president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, will be buried in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Thursday.
US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said Mr Raisi “has blood on his hands” as the former hardline cleric was “a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades”.
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Iran state TV confirms president’s death
Mr Miller said Mr Raisi “was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extra judicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988”.
“Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran,” he added.
The US approach to Iran “will not change” because of Mr Raisi’s death, Mr Miller said.
Iran‘s Mehr news agency reported “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred”.
State TV said it had smashed into a mountain. There has been no official word on the cause, but there was thick fog in the area.
“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash… unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” an official told Reuters.
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President of Iran killed in crash
Drone footage appeared to show the tail of the helicopter and scattered debris.
The search involving civilian and military teams had been hampered by fog and the remoteness of the crash site.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has been put in temporary charge and new elections must be held within 50 days
Mr Raisi, 63, who was seen as a frontrunner to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei, was travelling from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan where he had inaugurated a dam with the country’s president.
The governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, officials, and bodyguards, are also believed to be among those killed.
The helicopter was travelling in a convoy of three aircraft, and Iranian media initially described it as a “hard landing”.
Iranian news agency IRNA said Mr Raisi was flying in an American-made Bell 212 helicopter purchased in the early 2000s.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the world leaders to react to the president’s death.
He said he was “deeply saddened and shocked” and offered “heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran”.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed “great sadness and great sorrow” in a statement.
Pakistan leader Shehbaz Sharif, posting on X, offered “deepest condolences and sympathies to the Iranian nation on this terrible loss”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “huge tragedy” and “a difficult, irreparable loss”.
Mr Raisi was elected in 2021 in a vote that had the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
He previously served in several roles in Iran’s judicial system, including as deputy prosecutor. He was sanctioned by the US over the mass execution of political prisoners at the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.
A perilous moment for Iran – but don’t expect a change to foreign policy
This is a delicate time for Iran.
President Raisi was the second most important man in Iran, after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
His death, now confirmed, will have far-reaching consequences.
Although Khamenei has tried to reassure the country in recent hours, the regime will know this is a perilous moment that must be handled carefully.
There are mechanisms to protect the regime in events like this and the Revolutionary Guard, which was founded in 1979 precisely for that purpose, will be a major player in what comes next.
In the immediate term, vice-president Mohammed Mokhber will assume control and elections will be held within 50 days.
Sky’s Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said Mr Raisi was not a universally popular figure and that many inside Iran will celebrate his death.
He said the country’s approach to foreign affairs after his death was likely to be “business as usual”.
Iranian protesters have expressed “joy” over the death of President Ebrahim Raisi who was dubbed the “Butcher of Tehran”.
Speaking to Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim, three Iranians spoke on the condition of anonymity over fears of being tracked down by the country’s regime.
A protest leader – who is currently in hiding – suggested Sunday’s crash, that also killed Iran’s foreign minister, was “pre-planned”.
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Rescuers reach helicopter crash site
“We may not be across everything, but it’s been a known fact for a long time that Raisi was a serious contender to replace the Supreme Leader Khamenei, and perhaps some didn’t want that to happen.
“But all in all, this was very good news.
“All I can say is that the only thing that has made me truly happy over the past five years has been the news of Raisi’s death.”
Mr Raisi’s time in charge included major protests over Mahsa Amini – the woman who died after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
The US said Mr Raisi had “blood on his hands” as the former hardline cleric was “a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades”.
From the voices speaking out on The World with Yalda Hakim from inside Iran there was a sense of celebration on the eve of the funeral of their dead president but also a sense of realism.
One dead president the fall of a regime does not make. That is the bitter truth for those brave Iranians speaking out and the millions of Iranians they represent. They detest a man who presided over a brutal crackdown on protests that saw hundreds killed on the streets, and thousands incarcerated, tortured, raped or killed after their arbitrary arrest.
But there are reasons for Iranians to find some hope in the news of the president’s death.
Analysts have compared the Iranian theocratic Islamic regime to the Soviet Union in its dying days.
It is ideologically bankrupt. Its people do not believe in what it stands for anymore. It is morally bankrupt too, after the brutal repression that crushed the Women, Life and Freedom protests. But it remains powerful, with many people on its payroll and it is hard to predict how or when it falls.
Iran’s people want one thing though, and its government the opposite, and that ultimately is impossible to sustain.
Raisi had a unique skill set. He was both a zealous idealogue and an ex-judge. A man who understood how both Iran’s judiciary and presidency works. He combined a passionate belief in the Iranian revolution with an expertise in how its regime operated.
It has been said many times in the last 24 hours that Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, will find another hardliner to replace him. There are plenty more where he came from.
But no one with quite his skills and expertise. That may not be important immediately but at the moment of greatest danger in the not so distant future when Khamenei dies, it could make all the difference.
With no anointed successor, the supreme leader’s passing could usher in a period of instability and weakness for the regime. Raisi was seen as a potential successor but also a powerful stabilising force as president in that perilous hiatus, someone who could hold the ring while the new order is established and power struggles fought out.
Raisi’s death may well not mean immediate change for Iran but it could ultimately hasten its end.
A housewife, who was beaten up for taking parting in the “Woman, Life, Protest” movements, said: “The public hatred towards this regime is not a secret to anyone.
“Raisi’s death proved that the pain that this inflicted on our people will one day hit them back.
“My personal reaction to the death of Raisi… I was very happy.
“I’m not upset at all. Even though I never wish death on anyone, but this man, not only did he not do anything for our nation, but he ordered the death of countless young innocent people.”
Following news of Mr Raisi’s death, US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said the Iranian president “was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extra judicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988”.
“Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran,” he added.
The US approach to Iran “will not change” because of Mr Raisi’s death, Mr Miller said.
There are mechanisms to protect the regime in events like this and the Revolutionary Guard, which was founded in 1979 precisely for that purpose, will be a major player in what comes next.
In the immediate term, vice-president Mohammed Mokhber will assume control and elections will be held within 50 days.
Mokhber isn’t as close to the supreme leader as Raisi was, and won’t enjoy his standing, but he has run much of Khamenei’s finances for years and is credited with helping Iran evade some of the many sanctions levied on it.
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Drone footage of helicopter crash site
Raisi’s successor will most likely be the chosen candidate of the supreme leader and certainly another ultra-conservative hardliner – a shift back to the moderates is highly unlikely.
Likewise, we shouldn’t expect any significant change in Iran’s foreign activities or involvement with the war in Gaza. It will be business as usual, as much as possible.
However, after years of anti-government demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, this might be a moment for the protest movement to rise up and take to the streets again.