Russian opposition leader and Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison
Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, Alexei Navalny, died in a brutal penal colony Friday, having been locked up since returning home following a nerve agent poisoning widely assumed to have been an assassination attempt.
The Russian opposition leader, a married father of two, was 47.
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service claimed that “the convict” collapsed and died after he “felt unwell” during a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in remote Kharp, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.
However, the US joined other nations in bluntly blaming warmongering Russian President Putin.
“If confirmed, this would be a further sign of Putin’s brutality,” Vice President Kamala Harris said of hearing the “terrible news” while at a conference with other world leaders in Germany.
“Whatever story they tell, let us be clear — Russia is responsible.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier said that Navalny’s “death in a Russian prison and the fixation and fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built.”
“Russia is responsible for this,” Blinken also said firmly.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a similar message while speaking in Germany, where he was seeking further aid to defend against Russia’s nearly two-year-old invasion.
“It is obvious that he was killed by Putin,” he said.
“Putin doesn’t care who dies — only for him to hold his position. This is why he must hold onto nothing. Putin must lose everything and be held responsible for his deeds.”
EU Council President Charles Michel said the European Union holds the Russian regime “solely responsible.”
“Alexei Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy,” Michel said in a post on X. “For his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice.”
What we know about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
- Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, Alexei Navalny, died in a brutal penal colony, on Friday February 16, 2024.
- Navalny had been jailed since 2021 after returning home following a nerve agent poisoning widely assumed to have been an assassination attempt.
- Navalny’s death comes a day after he appeared in a court hearing via a video link, where he was heard making jokes with the judge.
- Navalny rose to prominence in Russia more than a decade ago by making fun of the elite class around Russian President Putin and voicing allegations of corruption on a vast scale.
- Navalny, 47, got married to his wife, Yulia, in 2000 and was a father of two.
- Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service claimed that “the convict” collapsed and died after he “felt unwell” during a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in remote Kharp, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics likewise did not mince words, saying Navalny was “brutally murdered by the Kremlin.”
“That’s a fact and that is something one should know about the true nature of Russia’s current regime,” Rinkevics wrote on X. “My condolences to the family and friends.”
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmish, tweeted Friday that they had had “no confirmation” yet.
Leonid Volkov, the former head of Navalny’s political organization, stressed: “We have no basis to believe state propaganda.
“If it’s true, then it’s not ‘Navalny died,’ but only that ‘Putin killed him,'” he said.
Navalny’s death came just a day after he looked healthy during a court hearing via video link, during which he was heard cracking jokes and laughing with the judge.
Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, was also quoted by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta as saying that her son had been “alive, healthy, and happy” when she last saw him on Monday.
Putin has been told about Navalny’s death, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The president was later seen looking carefree at a public event.
Asked about the unconfirmed reports that Navalny died from a blood clot, Putin’s mouthpiece replied: “I don’t know. I don’t know. Medics have to somehow determine it.”
The death announcement came days after the outspoken critic called for fresh protests against next month’s presidential election.
He recently raised concern after supporters had not heard from him for weeks, until he then started sharing messages online from behind bars — the most recent two days ago with a tender Valentine’s message to his wife, Yulia.
“Baby, everything is like a song with you: Between us, there are cities, the take-off light of airfields, blue snowstorms, and thousands of kilometers,” he wrote alongside a photo of them together.
“But I feel you are near every second, and I love you more and more.”
Yulia addressed the “horrific news” while speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, vowing that Putin and his cohorts will not go unpunished if her husband’s death turns out to be true.
The pair, married since 2000, share two children — daughter Daria and son Zakhar.
Navalny rose to prominence in Russia more than a decade ago by poking fun at the elite class around Putin and voicing allegations of corruption on a vast scale.
He became known worldwide in August 2020 when he was poisoned in Siberia, which Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to kill him with a nerve agent.
Here’s the latest coverage of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
- Alexei Navalny’s body seen in coffin, Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ played as thousands of supporters defy Putin to honor opposition leader
- Alexei Navalny’s body was ‘abused’ after death, widow claims, as loved ones fear chaotic funeral plagued by arrests
- Alexei Navalny’s funeral to be held at Moscow church after venues refused to host ceremony
The Kremlin denied trying to kill him and said there was no evidence he was poisoned with a nerve agent.
After life-saving treatment in Germany, Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021, when he was immediately arrested and held in custody ever since.
Putin’s critics suggested that his death was inevitable.
Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov called his death “murder.”
“My sincere belief is that it was the conditions of detention that led to Navalny’s death … His sentence was supplemented by murder,” Muratov said.
With Post wires
