(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden warned the Russian president Wladimir Putin Two years ago about possible consequences, the Russian opposition leader was supposed to be imprisoned Alexei Navalny die in prison, CNN reports.

Although Biden did not specify what actions he would take, during a Summit 2021 in Geneva with Putinhe said: “I made it clear to him that I believed the consequences for Russia would be devastating.”

Biden added: “What do you think happens when he says it’s not about hurting Navalny, but all this stuff he says to rationalize the treatment of Navalny, and then he dies in prison?”… It’s about trust. It’s about their ability to positively influence other nations.”

Navalny gained attention by focusing on corruption in Russia’s unclear mix of politicians and businesses; One of his first moves was to acquire a stake in Russian oil and gas companies to become an activist shareholder and advocate for transparency.

Who is Alexei Navalny?

Alexei Navalny, Putin’s fiercest enemy, died in prison He was 47 years old on Friday, Russian authorities said.

Navalny, who was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges, felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness, according to the Federal Penitentiary Service. An ambulance arrived to revive him, but he died. Officials said the cause of death was “under investigation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had been informed of Navalny’s death and that prison authorities would investigate the matter according to normal procedures.

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the politician’s team had not yet confirmed his death and that his lawyer traveled to the city where he was being held.

Shortly after Navalny’s death was announced, Russian social media channel SOTA shared images of the opposition politician, who was reportedly in court yesterday. In the footage, Navalny can be seen standing up and laughing and joking with the judge via video link.

Navalny was born on June 4, 1976, in Butyn, about 25 miles outside Moscow. He received a law degree from People’s Friendship University in 1998 and completed a fellowship at Yale in 2010.

Poisoning and imprisonment of Navalny

Before his death, Navalny had been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

In 2019, while serving a prison sentence for participating in an election protest, Navalny was hospitalized with an illness that authorities said was an allergic reaction but some doctors said appeared to be poisoning.

A year later, on August 20, 2020, he fell seriously ill on a flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk, where he was organizing opposition candidates. As he returned from the toilet, he collapsed in the aisle and the plane made an emergency landing in the city of Omsk, where he spent two days in a hospital while supporters pleaded with doctors to allow him to be taken to Germany for treatment.

When he arrived in Germany, doctors discovered that he had been poisoned with a type of Novichok – similar to the nerve agent that nearly killed former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018 and led to the death of another woman.

Navalny was in a medically induced coma for about two weeks and then struggled for several more weeks to regain his speech and movement. His first communication during recovery showcased his defiant wit – an Instagram post that said breathing on one’s own is “a remarkable process that is underestimated by many.” Highly recommended.”

In addition, the US State Department said it believed Navalny was poisoned by Russian security services after he fell ill CNN.

The Kremlin vehemently denied that it was behind the poisoning.

Before his arrest, Navalny fought against corruption in office, organized large anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office.

Since then he has received three prison sentences, all of which he rejected as politically motivated.

Navalny’s prison conditions

According to CNN, Navalny went on a hunger strike in the spring of 2020 to protest prison officials’ refusal to provide adequate medical care. During his time in prison, his supporters said Navalny’s health had “deteriorated” and his legal team reported that his condition had worsened due to alleged “torture through sleep deprivation,” according to CNN.

Navalny was moved from a prison in central Russia to a “special regime” in December penal colony – the highest security level of prisons in the country – above the Arctic Circle.

His allies condemned the move to a colony in the town of Charp, in a region about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, as another attempt to force Navalny to remain silent.

In Putin’s Russia, political opponents often disappeared due to factional disputes or went into exile after imprisonment, suspected poisonings or other severe repression. But Navalny went from strength to strength, reaching the top of the opposition through courage, bravery and a keen understanding of how social media could circumvent the Kremlin’s suppression of independent news outlets.

He met every setback – be it a physical attack or imprisonment – with intense devotion and faced danger with sardonic wit. This drove him to take the courageous and fateful step of returning from Germany to Russia and being safely arrested.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.