US Republican Haley Slams Trump’s Silence on Navalny’s Death

Nikki Haley, the Republican US presidential candidate, has expressed strong disapproval towards her party rival Donald Trump for his non-response to the sudden demise of Alexei Navalny, a well-known critic of the Russian Kremlin. During an interview with ABC television on Sunday, Haley confronted Trump’s silence, saying, “Either he’s on Putin’s side, endorsing the idea that Putin eliminated one of his political adversaries, or he simply doesn’t perceive it as a significant matter.” Haley, who previously held the position of US Ambassador to the United Nations, stressed that both scenarios are “worrying” and problematic to the US political landscape.

Alexei Navalny, a prominent dissident of Russian President Vladimir Putin, passed away unexpectedly on Friday at the age of 47, in a penal camp situated in the Arctic Circle. Navalny’s death has incited a wave of accusations from numerous Western politicians against the Russian leadership and Putin himself, including US President Joe Biden, attributing Navalny’s demise to them.

Contrarily, Former President Trump has maintained silence about Navalny’s death during multiple public appearances since Friday. In response to requests for his comment, Trump’s campaign team directed inquiries towards a post on its Truth Social online service. The article criticized the current US administration, stating that the United States was “no longer respected due to an incapable president who is weak and lacks understanding of global perception.” However, the article made no mention of Navalny, Russia, or Putin.

Just a week prior to this, Trump made a controversial statement at a campaign event. He declared that he would refrain from assisting NATO members in the event of a Russian attack if these members did not meet the defense spending benchmarks set by NATO. Instead, he would encourage Russia to “do as it pleases with them.” This pronouncement stirred international indignation.

“All he managed to accomplish at that moment was to bolster Putin,” Haley criticized. As a fellow candidate for the US Republican presidential nomination, she expressed her disapproval of Trump siding with Putin, a leader who eliminates political rivals, arrests American journalists, holds them captive, and intimidates the Russian populace with warnings not to challenge him in upcoming elections lest they face a similar fate.