Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most famous opposition leader, died on February 16 after collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a long jail term, the Russian prison service said.
Navalny, 47, rose to prominence more than a decade ago by lampooning President Vladimir Putin and the Russian elite whom he accused of vast corruption, avarice and opulence.
The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said in a statement that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) north east of Moscow. He lost consciousness almost immediately, it said.
“All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict,” the prison service said, adding that causes of death were being established.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates will not go unpunished if the death of Alexei Navalny, as reported by Russian officials, turns out to be true, the Kremlin critic’s wife, Yulia, said. Yulia Navalny called upon the international community to come together and fight against the “horrific regime” in Russia, in a statement at the Munich Security Conference, speaking in Russian via an interpreter. Navalny’s mother was quoted by Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta as saying that her son had been “alive, healthy and happy” when she last saw him on February 12. Novaya Gazeta reported that Lyudmila Navalnaya wrote in a Facebook post on Friday: “I don’t want to hear any condolences. We saw him in prison on the [Feb] 12, in a meeting. He was alive, healthy and happy.”
Mr. Putin has been told about Navalny’s death, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Mr. Putin, who is running for re-election in a month, was shown on a television clip visiting a factory in the Urals.
Meanwhile, the press secretary of Navalny said on the X social media platform on Friday that she was unable to confirm his death, which was reported by the country’s prison service earlier.
Kira Yarmysh said that Navalny’s lawyer was travelling to the site of the prison where he had been serving his sentence.
The former head of Navalny’s political organisation Leonid Volkov alleged that if it were true that he is dead, then Russian President Vladimir Putin killed him.
Mr. Volkov wrote on X: “We have no basis to believe state propaganda. If it’s true, then it’s not ‘Navalny died’, but only that ‘Putin killed him’. But I don’t believe them for a second.”
‘Russia responsible for Navalny’s death’: World leaders react
Western governments and Russian opposition figures said the Kremlin was responsible for Navalny’s death.
The White House said the death, if confirmed, would be “a terrible tragedy.” Speaking on NPR, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also added the Kremlin’s “long and sordid” history of harming its opponents “raises real and obvious questions about what happened here.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the reports underscore what he described as the “weakness and rot” of the system President Vladimir Putin built. “First and foremost, if these reports are accurate, our hearts go out to his wife and his family,” Mr. Blinken said in Munich.
“Beyond that, his 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,” Mr. Blinken added.
“We’ll be talking to the many other countries concerned about Alexei Navalny, especially if these reports bear out to be true,” Blinken said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said news of Alexei Navalny’s death was terrible. “This is terrible news. As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life,” Sunak said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy,” he added.
The European Union said held President Vladimir Putin’s Russia solely responsible for the death. “Alexei Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice,” European Council President Charles Michel posted on X. “The EU holds the Russian regime for sole responsible for this tragic death.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the reports. “We need to establish all the facts, and Russia needs to answer all the serious questions about the circumstances of his death,” Mr. Stoltenberg said.
Navalny has paid with his life for his ‘resistance to a system of oppression’, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said in comments on the death of the famous Russian political activist. “His death in a penal colony reminds us of the reality of Vladimir Putin’s regime”, said Sejourne.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the news “disturbing”, adding that it served as a warning to the rest of the world. “We express our heartfelt condolences and hope that full clarity will be revealed over this disturbing event,” Ms. Meloni said in a statement.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “very sad” about reports, adding that it was a “terrible” sign of how Russia as a country had changed in recent years.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on X on Friday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was “brutally murdered by the Kremlin”. “Whatever your thoughts about Alexei Navalny as the politician, he was just 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. My condolences to the family and friends,” he wrote.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares demanded a “clarification of the circumstances” of the death of Alexei Navalny in prison. “Deeply shocked by the death of Alexei Navalny. We demand clarification of the circumstances of his death, which occurred during his unjust imprisonment for political reasons,” Albares wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that what she called Western accusations about the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny were “self-revealing”.
In a statement posted on the messenger app Telegram, Ms. Zakharova said that forensic results on Navalny’s death were still unavailable but that the West had already reached its own conclusions. Ms. Zakharova did not clarify which accusations she was referring to.
Biden says Putin responsible for on Navalny’s death
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “not surprised” but “outraged” after the reported death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. “He bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence and all the bad things the Putin government was doing,” Biden said at the White House of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.”
God bless Alexei Navalny, his courage will not be forgotten’
Biden adds that this is the time for “greater unity” among Nato allies to stand against Vladimir Putin, in spite of the Russian president’s “desperate attempts to stamp out any oppositon”.
The White House was seeking more information about Navalny’s death at a Russian penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, where he was dispatched less than two months ago.
Opposition leader
Navalny’s exposes, posted on his YouTube channel racked up millions of views and brought tens of thousands of Russians to the streets, despite Russia’s harsh anti-protests laws.
He was jailed in early 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was recuperating from a near-fatal poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.
Editorial | Poison and prison: On political importance of Navalny
In a string of cases he was sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges widely condemned by independent rights groups and in the West as retribution for his opposition to the Kremlin.
His return to Russia despite facing jail put him on a collision course with Putin, after Navalny blamed the poisoning attack in Siberia on the Kremlin.
“I’m not afraid and I call on you not to be afraid,” he said in an appeal to supporters as he landed in Moscow, moments before being detained on charges linked to an old fraud conviction.
His 2021 arrest spurred some of the largest demonstrations Russia had seen in decades, and thousands were detained at rallies nationwide calling for his release.
In prison, Navalny’s team said he had been harassed and repeatedly moved to a punitive solitary confinement cell.
He said guards had subjected him and other inmates to “torture by Putin”, making them listen to the President’s speeches.
From behind bars he was a staunch opponent of Moscow’s full-scale military offensive against Ukraine.
The Kremlin moved to dismantle his organisation, locking up his allies and sending dozens of others into exile.
Late last year he was moved to a remote Arctic prison colony in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets region in northern Siberia.
The last post on Navalny’s Telegram channel, which he managed through his lawyers and team in exile, was a tribute to his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, posted on Valentine’s Day.
