WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said Friday that fresh sanctions imposed on Russia will force President Vladimir Putin to pay “an even steeper price” for his war in Ukraine and the death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home,” Biden said in a statement.

Putin reacts with sarcasm to Biden’s ‘SOB’ remark

The new sanctions are being imposed on more than 500 targets involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as on those connected to the the imprisonment of Navalny, who died in a remote Arctic jail last week.

“These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents,” Biden said.