RUSSIAN STATE IS TO BLAME FOR THE DEATH OF NAVALNY, SAYS MARTIN

MICHEÁL MARTIN has said he believes the Russian state killed Alexei Navalny.

Irish authorities have expressed ‘outrage’ to the Russian ambassador over the death of the opposition leader.

The Department of Foreign Affairs summoned Yury Filatov on Tuesday and reiterated that ‘ultimate responsibility for his death rests with Russian leadership’.

The Russian prison service announced that Navalny died during his detention at an Arctic penal colony on Friday.

The Department also called for a full, independent and transparent investigation into his death.

Mr Martin, who met Mr Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, said her husband’s treatment in detention was ‘chilling and ruthless’.

Asked if he agreed with her that the Russian state killed Mr Navalny, the Tánaiste said: ‘There’s no question about that.

‘I’m not just referring to the actual immediate situation at the weekend but rather the progressive, savage treatment of him in terms of his imprisonment and his movement to the Arctic Circle.

‘There are some harrowing accounts of the latter stages of his detention in terms of freezing cold in the cells, the limited exercise.’

The Department of Foreign Affairs secretary-general met the Russian Ambassador on Tuesday.

Mr Martin told RTÉ radio: ‘We condemned, obviously, Mr Navalny’s death because we feel it reflects a very repressive regime that shuts down any form of internal dissent and freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.’

He said about 2,000 Russian individuals and entities are subject to travel bans and asset freeze measures as part of European sanctions.

The Department said it summoned the ambassador Yury Filatov and reiterated that ‘ultimate responsibility for his death rests with Russian leadership”.