US President Joe Biden on Friday slapped as many as 500 sanctions on Russia over the death of Kremlin’s critic and opposition figure, Alexei Navalny and the war in Ukraine. The sanctions were aimed at weakening the war machine of Moscow, and targeted Russia’s financial system. It is the largest tranche of sanctions that Biden has imposed on Russian Federation since Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of neighbouring Kyiv. Biden announced the measures on the Russia-Ukraine war anniversary on Saturday. 

'We'll ensure Putin pays a price for his aggression': Biden

According to reports, the sanctions were instated on several Russian sectors, including the state-owned National Payment Card System, banks, investment firms, venture capital funds and other financial institutions, its defense industry and procurement networks. It also targeted the lawmakers, both in Russia and abroad, as well as the on the staff at arctic prison service where Navalny was jailed. Biden urged the lawmakers from the US House of Representatives to pass the $95 billion funding for Ukraine’s military fighting Russian invasion.

“We in the United States are going to continue to ensure that Putin pays a price for his aggression abroad and repression at home,” said Biden. 

The latter warned that failure to do so will imply more aggression in Ukraine and risk to national security of Europe. Biden met with the family of Navalny in California, and said that Russia’s President Putin will himself be sanctioned for his alleged role in Navalny’s death. “I had the honor of meeting with his wife and daughter and, to state the obvious, he was a man of incredible courage,” Biden told reporters. “We’re gonna be announcing sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow,” he added. US President stressed that Navalny’s wife Yulia will continue the work of Navalny and that she would “continue to fight.” “We’re not letting up,” he added. Navalny’s daughter Dasha Navalnaya is a student at Stanford University.