Washington, January 28: The United States is concerned about the human rights situation in Russia and is worried about the safety and security of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken told reporters here on Wednesday.

“We've already expressed our deep concern for the treatment of Mr Navalny specifically and more generally with the human rights situation in Russia, and it remains striking to me how concerned and maybe even scared the Russian government seems to be of one man, Mr Navalny,” Blinken said at his maiden news conference. Alexei Navalny Says Vladimir Putin is Behind His Alleged Poisoning.

Across the board, he said the US is reviewing all of these actions that are of deep concern to the US, whether it is the treatment of Navalny or the apparent use of a chemical weapon in an attempt to assassinate him.

“We're looking very urgently at SolarWinds and its various implications. We're looking at the reports of bounties placed by Russia on American forces in Afghanistan. Of course, we're looking at these questions of election interference,” he said.

“But as I say, we have a deep concern for Mr Navalny's safety and security. And the larger point is that his voice is the voice of many, many, many Russians, and it should be heard, not muzzled,” Blinken said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)