Biden meets Alexei Navalny's widow and daughter in California and promises major sanctions against Putin

President Joe Biden held an emotional meeting with Alexei Navalny's widow and daughter in California and promised major new sanctions against Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime.

The president spoke privately with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya in a suite at the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco.

White House officials said he shared his condolences for the death of Putin's top critic and opposition leader in a Siberian penal colony last week.

Biden hugged Yulia and promised that her late husband's legacy would live on as Moscow ramped up its threats of nuclear attacks on the West.

The meeting came hours after Biden publicly called Putin a 'crazy S.O.B.' in the wake of Navalny's death at the age of 47. 

President Joe Biden met with Alexei Navalny 's widow and daughter in California and promised major new sanctions against Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime

The president hugs Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya in San Francisco 

After the meeting Biden spoke briefly in the garage of the hotel as he got into is vehicle.

The president said: 'He (Navalny) was a man of incredible courage. It's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that.

'We'll be announcing the sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow.

'One thing Yulia made clear to me is that she's going to continue to fight. We're not letting up.'

US President Joe Biden speaks to the press in the parking garage of the Fairmont Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on February 22, 2024

US President Joe Biden next to his vehicle 'The Beast' as he speaks to the press in the parking garage of the Fairmont Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on February 22, 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on before a test flight aboard a Tupolev Tu-160 M strategic missile carrier during a visit to the Kazan Aviation Factory named after Sergei Gorbunov, a branch of the Tupolev military industry company, in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, 22 February 2024

The President also wrote on X: 'Today, I met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya – Aleksei Navalny's loved ones – to express my condolences for their devastating loss.

'Aleksei's legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights.'

They met as Navalny's mother Lyudmila Navalnaya revealed she had been taken to a secret morgue to see her son's body.

She demanded that Kremlin officials give back 'my son's body immediately' after investigators tried 'blackmailing' her into holding a 'secret' burial.

Biden called Putin an 'S.O.B.' in a campaign speech to a small group of supporters on Wednesday night.

He also condemned his predecessor Donald Trump for comparing his legal woes with Navalny's plight. 

Biden is planning to announce a fresh round of sanctions on Friday, as fears grow that Putin will put a nuclear weapon into space.

Putin spent part of Thursday taunting the West with a joyride in a modernized supersonic Tu-160M strategic nuclear bomber.

Vladimir Putin aboard Tu-160M strategic nuclear bomber on 22 February 2024

Dasha Navalnaya (left) and brother Zahar Navalny (right) pose with their mother Yulia Navalnaya at the Oscars in 2023 

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, left, and his wife Yulia after a rally in rain-soaked Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 6, 2013

Alexei Navalny, 47, died inside Putin's sinister prison system

In a statement the White House said: 'President Biden met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya today in San Francisco to express his heartfelt condolences for their terrible loss following the death of Aleksei Navalny in a Russian prison.

'The President emphasized that Aleksei's legacy will carry on through people across Russia and around the world mourning his loss and fighting for freedom, democracy, and human rights.

'He affirmed that his Administration will announce major new sanctions against Russia tomorrow in response to Aleksei's death, Russia's repression and aggression, and its brutal and illegal war in Ukraine.'

This handout photo published by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on his instagram account, shows himself and his wife Yulia, posing for a photo in a hospital in Berlin, Germany. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has posted the picture Tuesday Sept. 15, 2020, with the caption 'Hi, this is Navalny. I have been missing you. I still can't do much, but yesterday I managed to breathe on my own for the entire day.'

A White House official added: 'The President expressed his admiration for Alexei 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.'

As one of the last opponents to Putin still active in Russia, Navalny had galvanized mass protests and won popularity with a series of investigations into state corruption.

He was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent in 2020 and was jailed the following year after returning to Russia following a period of treatment in Germany.

He was sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges and sent to IK-3, a harsh penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle known as 'Polar Wolf'.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia, in raincoats, wait for the start of his rally in rain-soaked Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 6, 201

Protesters hold placards reading "Putin kills" during a demonstration organised by the association "Russie-Libertes" following the death of Alexei Navalny in an arctic prison, at the Esplanade du Trocadero in Paris, on February 22, 2024

Alexei Navalny in prison before his death: Joe Biden met with his widow and vowed to support her in her fight

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russian authorities should return Navalny's body to his mother so she can 'properly memorialize her son's bravery and courage and service.'

Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said on Thursday that some of the 'hundreds and hundreds and hundreds' of sanctions to be unveiled in the coming days would target those responsible for Navalny's death.

She said most would hit 'Putin's war machine' and close gaps in existing sanctions regimes.

The new measures are timed to mark the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.