President Biden has once again made a mix up of names, this time with the widow of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died last week.
The 81-year-old president was meeting with widow Yulia and daughter Dasha Navalnaya in Los Angeles, California.
However, Biden accidentally misnamed Yulia as 'Yolanda' when speaking to reporters after the meeting.
He also announced that he would be enacting more sanctions against Russia, who Biden has blamed for the death of Navalny.
President Biden met with Yulia and daughter Dasha Navalnaya
YULIA NAVALNAYA VIA X/Reuters
Speaking to reporters, he said: "This morning I had the honor of meeting with Alexei Navalny's wife and daughter. As to state the obvious, he was the man of incredible courage.
"And it's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that. And we're going to be announcing the sanctions, against who was responsible for his death, tomorrow.
"And one thing that was made clear to me, is that 'Yolanda' (Navalnaya) is going, she's going to continue fighting all the way and not letting up. Thank you."
The White House said in a statement that 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."
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Biden meeting with the family of Alexei Navalny
Reuters
Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died suddenly on Friday after a walk at the "Polar Wolf" penal colony above the Arctic Circle where he was serving a three-decade sentence.
After the meeting with the opposition leader's family, Biden also affirmed that the United States will announce major new sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to Navalny's death, Russia's repression and aggression and its war in Ukraine.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan had previously said the latest punitive measures will target a range of items, including the country's defence and industrial bases, along with sources of revenue for the economy.
President Biden met the Navalnayas as Navalny's mother Lyudmila Navalnaya revealed she had been taken to a secret morgue to see her son's body.
Alexei Navalny pictured in 2013
Reuters
Navalny survived an attempt to poison him in Siberia in 2020 with what Western laboratories said was a Russian-made nerve agent, Novichok.
In prison since January 2021, he had endured long spells in solitary confinement.
The Kremlin has said it had nothing to do with Navalny's death, and that the circumstances are being investigated.
Putin has yet to comment on it, however foreign minister Sergei Lavrov described the reaction of the West, where leaders including US President Joe Biden have said they hold Putin responsible, as "hysteria".
