“In terms of the specific measures we would take, we look at different costs we would incur,” Sullivan said. “And I’m not going to telegraph it publicly at the moment, but we have been told there will be consequences if Mr Navalny dies.”
Navalny was arrested when he returned to Russia in January and has been on hunger strike for several weeks. Navalny’s doctor warned on Saturday that the opposition leader “could die at any moment”.
Navalny blames Moscow for his poisoning by a nerve agent last year, which Russia denied. The US imposed sanctions on Russia in March over Navalny’s poisoning.
Biden denounced Russia’s treatment of Navalny on Saturday.
“This is completely unfair,” Biden was quoted as saying by a White House swimming pool report. “Completely inappropriate.”
But Sullivan has been troubled by host Dana Bash over why Biden did not demand Navalny’s release or provide him with “every opportunity” medical assistance, including in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week or on Thursday for further sanctions against To announce Russia. Sullivan replied that the government of Biden considered diplomatic channels to be the best way to plead on behalf of Navalny.
“We have actually judged that direct communication to the Russian government is on this issue – including how we see it, how our allies and partners see it, and what could unfold … should he die – and we have judged rather “as merely making general statements, the best way is to deal with this issue privately and through diplomatic channels directly to the highest levels of the Russian government,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan did not want to discuss whether a possible summit between Biden and Putin would be scrapped in the case of Navalny’s death. Biden proposed a summit “in the coming months” in his call with Putin, according to a White House reading of their conversation.
“There is not currently a summit on the books,” Sullivan said. “This is something we are talking about, and that summit will obviously have to take place in the right circumstances in a way that can actually promote the relationship.”