Townsend, who is in China for the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup, came under fire after she expressed shock and confusion at local delicacies such as bullfrogs and turtles.
Russian authorities said Navalny died last year after feeling unwell following a walk around the high-security Arctic penal colony where he was serving a combined 30 ½-year jail sentence.
The man, who has been identified by media as Christian Brückner, had been serving a seven-year sentence from his 2019 conviction for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman.