The president said that while the United States was still gathering information about the Russian dissident’s demise, he would hold President Vladimir V. Putin responsible; but he has limited options.
Starting as an anticorruption blogger, Mr. Navalny mobilized a generation of young Russians and rose to prominence for investigations into the country’s elite.
A straight-talking former real estate lawyer, he stayed relevant even from prison, pleading with Russians not to give up or give in to their fears and railing against the “criminal” war in Ukraine.