{"id":10431,"date":"2021-01-19T17:29:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T17:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=151978"},"modified":"2021-01-19T17:29:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T17:29:00","slug":"in-a-response-to-navalnys-arrest-clues-to-bidens-russia-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/19\/in-a-response-to-navalnys-arrest-clues-to-bidens-russia-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"In A Response To Navalny’s Arrest, Clues to Biden’s Russia Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
Less than two hours after Aleksei Navalny was detained at passport control at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on January 17, the man who will hold one of the most important positions in the new White House made a statement on Twitter:<\/p>\n
“Mr. Navalny should be immediately released, and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable,” Jake Sullivan, who will become President Joe Biden’s national security adviser after the January 20 inauguration, wrote<\/a><\/strong>. “The Kremlin’s attacks on Mr. Navalny are not just a violation of human rights, but an affront to the Russian people who want their voices heard.”<\/p>\n Sullivan’s expression of support for the Russian anti-corruption activist was followed a few hours later by a statement<\/a><\/strong> from the departing U.S. secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who has frequently bashed Moscow on its human rights record, arms-control violations, and other issues.<\/p>\n But the speed with which a top official of the incoming Biden administration offered a public statement on Navalny, who was detained and jailed after returning to Russia for the first time since being hospitalized for exposure to a powerful nerve agent from the Novichok group, was itself unusual.<\/p>\n Moreover, Sullivan hadn’t even formally started his job yet.<\/p>\n