Widow to continue fight
Navalny’s wife calls on Russians to stand by her pursuit of freedom
BRUSSELS: Yulia Navalnaya has vowed to continue her husband Alexei Navalny’s fight after his death in a Russian prison last week, for which she has blamed the Kremlin.
Ms Navalnaya spoke as the Kremlin said it had no details about the Russian opposition leader’s death, while his mother Lyudmila was denied access to his body for a third day.
Ms Navalnaya’s address came shortly before she met EU foreign ministers in Brussels, where she had been invited after the suspicious death of her husband triggered Western outrage.
“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I will continue to fight for the freedom of our country,” Ms Navalnaya said.
“And I call on you to stand by me.”
Ms Navalnaya supported her husband as he galvanised mass protests in Russia, flying him out of the country when he was poisoned before defiantly returning to Moscow with him in 2021, knowing he would be jailed.
The announcement she will fight on is a momentous and unpredictable turn for Russia’s exiled and beleaguered opposition, which was left leaderless after Mr Navalny’s death.
Russia will hold a presidential election on March 15-17 in which Vladimir Putin has no real challengers. Most of his political opponents are in exile, behind bars or dead.
“Vladimir Putin killed my husband Alexei Navalny,” Ms Navalnaya said on his YouTube channel, adding he died “after three years of torment and torture”.
“Putin took from me the most valuable thing that I had, the closest and most loved person. But Putin also took Navalny from you.”
Russia’s prison service said Mr Navalny died “after a walk” in his prison colony in the Arctic Yamal region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say how Putin – who has not commented on the death – reacted to his main opponent dying.
He also said the Kremlin had no results from an investigation into the death.
He decried Western statements blaming the Kremlin for Mr Navalny’s end as “absolutely unacceptable.” Mr Navalny’s team, however, accused Russian authorities of trying to cover up “murder”.
“Investigators told Alexei’s mother and lawyers that they are not handing over the body and in the next 14 days they will conduct a chemical analysis, an investigation,” said Kira Yarmysh, a spokeswoman for Mr Navalny. “Navalny’s body is being hidden to hide the traces of the murder. This 14-day ‘analysis’ is an outright lie.”