Florida leaders respond to Navalny's death. Trump weighs in as well, sort of. (2024)

Alexei Navalny was a prominent Russian opposition leader.

Members of Florida's Republican congressional delegation immediately blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the death last week of his fiercest critic, opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

On Monday, former President Donald Trump weighed in with a post on his social media platform that was more a statement of U.S. politics than Navalny's death or of Russian government and politics. Trump did not mention the Russian leader and did not express sadness nor offer condolences for what he called Navalny's "sudden death."

That was a contrast to both Florida Republican U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio who both held Putin responsible for Navalny's death, which was announced Friday.

Scott, in a post on X, said that Putin "will kill anyone that opposes his tyranny." Rubio, who sits on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, urged in a statement for people to "continue to stand with those brave Russians who dare to speak out."

"Navalny’s tragic death at the hands of the Putin bloodthirsty regime is a stark reminder that Putin and his thugs will stop at nothing to silence dissent or those who might expose the level of corruption in the Kremlin," Rubio said.

VIDEO: Alexei Navalny, one of Putin's most vocal critics, dies at 47

Navalny, 47, died Friday in a remote Arctic penal colony where he was serving a sentence of 19 years on charges of extremism. His death, coming just a month before a Russian election in which Putin is running for another six years in power, drew outrage from leaders around the world including President Joe Biden.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is a staunch supporter of Trump, wrote in a post on X that when "Putin feels threatened, he kills people."

"He’ll probably do it again," Gaetz said. "Navalny’s courage to speak out was inspirational to many, and his tragic death will be remembered through the lens of this courage and sacrifice."

For his part, Trump posted on Truth Social on Presidents Day, saying that Navalny’s death made him “more aware” of the United States’ “path to destruction.” Trump's campaign referred to a TruthSocial post Friday as a response to Navalny's death, but the post did not mention Navalny or Russia. Instead, the post criticized Biden as an "incompetent president," and said that Trump could bring peace and prosperity to the United States.

“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Monday. “It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA.”

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On Friday, a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million in a civil fraud case. Most of Trump's comments that day related to his indictments and legal troubles. His Republican primary opponent, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, had called Trump's silence on Navalny a "problem."

“Anybody that can’t call out a dictator, that’s a problem,” Haley said in a CNN interview.

In a news conference Friday at the White House, Biden said he had "no doubt" that Navalny's death was "the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did."

“Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Biden said. “What has happened to Navalny is even more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled."

Why is Navalny's death important to the United States?

Navalny hadbeen jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face certain arrest after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, the Associated Press said. He was later convicted three times, saying each case was politically motivated. After the last verdict, Navalny said he understood he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.”

His death sparked controversy Friday in Washington. At his news conference, Biden criticized Republican lawmakers for failing to support Ukraine — which Russia invaded two years ago this month — with funding during this "critical moment" of its war with Putin.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed a bill containing $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. The House didn't take up the bill, and Biden criticized lawmakers for their inaction, saying they were harming the United States' standing as a "reliable ally."

Democrats have repeatedly pushed for additional Ukraine funding, but have run into backlash from Republicans who refuse to consider it without simultaneous measures to address the immigration flood at the southern U.S. border.

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, a well-known champion of Ukraine aid, said in response to Navalny's death that he was a "heroic fighter for the Russian people and for democracy."

"His legacy reminds us just how vital it is that we provide Ukraine with the assistance it desperately needs in short order," Frankel said. "We cannot abandon our allies as they defend their freedom from Putin's aggression."

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter forThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her atsmatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism:Subscribe today.