U.S. Warns Russia of ‘Consequences’ If Putin Critic Navalny Dies

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. warned Russia there will be “consequences” if jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies after his aides said his condition has worsened sharply after an almost three-week-long hunger strike.

“We have communicated to the Russian government ... they will be held accountable by the international community,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “We are looking at a variety of different costs that we would impose, and I’m not going to telegraph that publicly at this point. But we have communicated that there will be consequences if Mr. Navalny dies.”

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said Saturday that he might die in a “matter of days.” The politician’s doctor, Anastasia Vasilieva, posted a copy of his blood-test results showing what she said were “critical” levels of potassium.

“This signifies kidney failure, which can lead at any time to a severe disruption to his heartbeat” including the possibility of heart failure, she said on Twitter.

Navalny, 44, has been held since March 11 at the notorious IK-2 prison camp about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Moscow. President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critic was imprisoned for breaking parole rules while he was recovering in Germany from a near-fatal chemical poisoning in Siberia that he and Western governments blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities deny any involvement.

After complaining of acute back and leg pain, Navalny began the hunger strike on March 31 to demand specialist care from doctors outside the prison system. In a post on his Instagram account Friday, Navalny’s allies reported that a prison official had warned him that a blood test indicated a “serious deterioration” in his health and that he would be force-fed if he didn’t end the protest.

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