Biden says Putin is responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny

President Joe Biden said Friday that Russia President Vladimir Putin is responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition politician. 

Russia authorities said Friday that Navalny had died in a prison. He was 47.

"Russian authorities are going to tell their own story," Biden said, according to ABC News. "Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny's death."

Biden said he was "not surprised" and "outraged" by reports of Navalny's death.

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the politician’s team had no confirmation of his death so far and that his lawyer was traveling to the town where he was held.

Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism.

In December he was moved from his former prison to a “special regime” penal colony – the highest security level of prisons in Russia – above the Arctic Circle.