An economist by training, she gave up her job to raise the couple’s two children.
Warsaw, Poland:
With a straight face and a determined attitude, Yulia Navalnaya took over the baton from her late husband Alexei on Monday and called on Russia’s opposition to take action after years of shadowing.
In a dimly lit room, the 47-year-old woman, with her light blond hair tied into a regular bun, addressed the opposition, which has been left leaderless after Navalny’s death.
“I call on you to support me,” she said in a nine-minute video that racked up some 2.5 million views in a few hours.
Her husband has been Putin’s most prolific critic for more than a decade, opposing the long-time ruler and blasting the regime for corruption.
The pair met while on holiday in Turkey and both said they fell in love immediately.
Navalnaya, a trained economist, gave up her job to raise the couple’s two children.
But as Alexei’s political career took off, she stayed away from the media spotlight, maintaining as much privacy as possible.
She stood by his side when he sparked massive protests in Russia in 2020 and flew out of Russia with him while he was in a poisoned coma.
When the couple flew back to Moscow five months later, she acted defiant because she knew it would land him in jail.
“Waiter, bring us some vodka, we’re flying home,” Navalnaya said in the video, sitting next to Alexei on the plane, mimicking a scene from a Russian cult film.
“The nearest and dearest person”
After the plane landed, the couple were separated at passport control and that was the last time she saw her husband free.
They embraced briefly before police took him away, and she was greeted at the airport with shouts of “Yulia!”
The couple often share photos of their family life with their children, in stark contrast to Putin, who keeps his personal life completely private.
The last time they met was in February 2022, and because prison visits were banned, the two could only talk through letters.
Although he was sentenced to 19 years in prison and sent to the harshest prisons, she still held on to the hope of seeing him again.
But on Friday, Russian prison authorities announced that the Kremlin critic had died after more than three years in prison.
Navalnaya, who was attending the Munich Security Conference, spoke shortly after the announcement.
“If this is true, then I want Putin and all his entourage, Putin’s friends and his government to know: They will be held accountable for what they did to our country, my family and my husband.”
“The fighting gets more intense”
Hopes were finally dashed on Saturday when Navalny’s team confirmed the opposition leader’s death.
“Putin killed the father of my child. Putin took the most precious thing from me, the person closest to me and most beloved,” Navalnaya said on Monday.
Over the years, she witnessed her husband being arrested, poisoned and abused.
Navalny once joked that this made her views more radical than his.
“When you are not a politician and you see the darkest things against your family, of course, it radicalizes you,” Navalny said in an interview.
Still, Navalnaya insists she is primarily a mother and wife and has no interest in politics.
But many observers wonder whether there is anyone else who can unite the divided opposition that has centered around him in the past.
After decades of resisting calls for a more active political role, Navalnaya agreed to carry the torch.
“The most important thing we can do for Alexei and ourselves is to continue fighting harder and harder than before,” she said.
“I know it seems impossible. But we all need to come together and fight this crazy regime with a strong fist.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
