President Biden has blamed Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin for the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Siberian prison. “Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Biden said in a speech at the White House.

He said the United States did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny, but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Navalny was Russia’s most significant opposition leader for the past decade.

President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critic within Russia was serving 19 years on extremism charges that were widely seen as politically motivated.

His wife Yulia has appealed to the international community “to help punish this regime”.

Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Steve Rosenberg, Gordon Corera and Lyse Doucet.

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