U.S. President Joe Biden on February 22 met the wife and daughter of Aleksei Navalny in California "to express his heartfelt condolences," the White House said in a statement. During the meeting, Biden expressed his admiration for Navalny's "extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone," the statement said. Biden also affirmed that the United States will announce major new sanctions against Russia on February 23 in response to Navalny's death, Russia's repression and aggression, and its war in Ukraine.