Alexei Navalny’s friends have been worried about his safety in prison
Alexei Navalny’s death eliminates president’s most prominent opponent Vladimir Putinand sent another clear signal about the dangers of defying Russia’s leader’s increasingly repressive regime.
Since Navalny rose to prominence during Russia’s massive pro-democracy protests in 2011-2012, it has become clear to both the Kremlin and Putin’s opponents that the charismatic and witty Navalny has the potential to become a serious political challenge.
It is also clear that Navalny returned to Russia in early 2021, despite warnings of imprisonment, and is living on borrowed time.
Death of Navalny His spokesman, Kira Yarmysh, said on the X social media platform and in a video statement on Saturday that he had received confirmation in an “official message” to his mother.
The fate of the opposition activists comes after a fatal plane crash killed the leader of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin last year. Prigozhin became a hero to Russian nationalists for his role in the fighting in Ukraine. Prigozhin was reportedly killed in August, two months after leading a revolt against the Defense Ministry leadership that escalated into the biggest threat to Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule.
The two incidents helped purge the country of openly anti-Putin figures, albeit from very different angles. That alone sends a powerful message to Russia and the world as the second anniversary of Putin’s sweeping invasion of Ukraine, which triggered a slew of sanctions and prompted the United States and its allies to supply weapons to Kiev, approaches.
News of Navalny’s death was announced on the eve of the formal presidential election on March 17, in which Putin is seeking a fifth term. Government leaders were quick to blame the Kremlin, with some directly blaming Putin, a former KGB officer who is on the verge of matching Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin’s record of rule in Moscow.
Russian authorities have not revealed the cause of death, saying Navalny fell ill and lost consciousness after a walk. Just a day earlier, he appeared on video at a prison court hearing, joking happily with officials.
Putin is so hostile to Navalny that he refused to give his name when reporters asked questions about the activist, a trend that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov followed. Russian state television, which has banned mention of Navalny for years, briefly reported his death.
With ties between Russia and the West already largely severed by Putin’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it is unclear whether U.S. and European condemnation of Navalny’s death will turn into more concrete punishment for the Kremlin.
Navalny’s friends and allies have been concerned about his safety in prison as the Kremlin launches its largest crackdown on dissent in decades to suppress anti-war forces.
Such concerns intensified when Navalny, 47, was transferred from a prison outside Moscow to the remote Arctic prison prison IK-3 in late December. In his last post on X (formerly known as Twitter) on February 14, he stated that this was the fourth time since his arrival in the punishment cell that he had been sentenced to 15 days in prison.
From prison, he has been advocating on social media for nationwide protests during the presidential election, encouraging people to arrive at polling stations at midday to vote against Putin. Navalny also condemned the invasion of Ukraine.
His death is the latest in a series of incidents involving key Kremlin critics.
Boris NemtsovIn February 2015, the former deputy prime minister was assassinated outside the Kremlin walls in Moscow. On Putin’s birthday in October 2006, campaign reporter Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in an elevator of a Moscow apartment building.
Another prominent opposition figure, Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason in April after denouncing the invasion of Ukraine, accused Russian authorities of twice targeting him in the past poison.
Navalny, at least in his early years, courted controversy for his contacts with nationalist elements hostile to the Kremlin as well as foreigners and minorities. Navalny has justified the relationship by saying he is trying to build a broad coalition against Putin, but many liberal activists remain skeptical of him.
Fearless and internet savvy, Navalny He gained a large online following in Russia through investigations that exposed corruption at state-owned enterprises and senior officials, and by using social media posts to circumvent blocks on state television. In January 2021, he caused an uproar when he released a video exposing a lavish $1.3 billion Black Sea palace that he said was built for Putin.
The video, which has been viewed more than 129 million times on YouTube, was posted after Navalny was detained on his return to Russia from Germany. In 2020, he was treated for nerve agent poisoning in Siberia. Blame it on the Kremlin. Russia denies involvement.
Later that year, Russia outlawed Navalny’s nationwide network of activist groups as “extremist,” forcing activists to disband and many to flee abroad. Navalny’s own health has been deteriorating in prison, and he appeared emaciated at a court hearing after going on a 24-day hunger strike to demand better medical care.
The fate of the opposition leader and his movement, which is largely made up of young professionals, contrasts with the optimism early in the 2011-2012 mass protests against Putin’s return to the presidency. The subsequent Kremlin crackdown did little to weaken their resolve.
In September 2013, Navalny was unexpectedly allowed to run in the Moscow mayoral election after widespread protests in support of the release of his detainees, at which point he came close to a runoff with current Putin ally Sergey Sobyanin . His approval rating is 27%, compared to Sobyanin’s 51%.
This was the last time Navalny was allowed to run. When he launched his campaign to challenge Putin in the 2018 presidential election, officials barred him from the vote amid criticism from Navalny, the United States and the European Union that he was politically motivated.
“Navalny was basically killed when he was captured a few years ago,” said Thad Troy, managing director of Crompton Global and a former CIA official in Moscow. “Putin’s next step is inevitably to tighten his grip on Russia.”
In prison, Navalny continued to defy Putin. He also revealed that he had come to believe in God after years of atheism, surprising many of his supporters.
“Our country was founded on injustice. But tens of millions of people want the truth,” he told the court at a failed appeal hearing in 2021. “They’re going to get it sooner or later.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
