Feb 16, 2024 at 8:52 PM Update: an hour ago
Russian authorities reported the death of Alexei Navalny on Friday afternoon. It has not yet been independently confirmed, but his team has no hope that he is still alive. The Western world reacted angrily. Here’s what we know now.
Russia’s prison authority reported Navalny’s death around noon. It didn’t take long before major world leaders started pointing the finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the prison authority, Navalny became unwell after taking a walk. The opposition leader then reportedly lost consciousness, after which medical staff tried in vain to resuscitate him. Navalny was subsequently declared dead.
The exact cause of death is still under investigation. The Kremlin says it does not yet have official information about his cause of death.
Russia’s reading has been received with great skepticism. Navalny’s mother reported shortly after the news of her son’s death that he had been “cheerful and healthy” in recent days. Images of Navalny that were allegedly taken on Thursday also appeared.
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Navalny jokes day before his death in prison
The wife of the 47-year-old Putin critic is also not yet sure whether her husband has died. Yulia Navalnaya responded from Munich, where she is attending a security conference.
“I don’t know whether we should believe the terrible news we heard,” she began her speech. “They lie all the time. But if it is true, I want Putin and everyone around him to be punished. For what they did to the country, my family and my husband.”
Navalny’s team has virtually no hope that he is still alive. The team sends Navalny’s lawyer to the Siberian prison camp where the opposition leader was held. The lawyer will arrive there on Saturday morning (Russian time).
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Navalny’s wife reacts to his death: ‘I don’t know if I should believe the news’
The Western world reacted angrily and many hold Putin responsible for Navalny’s death. US President Joe Biden wants there to be “no misunderstanding” about it. “Like millions of others, I am not surprised, but I am extremely outraged.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went a step further and said Navalny was killed by Putin. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Vice-President Josep Borrell hold the Russian regime responsible for Navalny’s death. “He has been slowly murdered by a regime that fears nothing more than the backlash from its own people.”
Also outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte holds Russia responsible for Navalny’s death. He pointed out the poor conditions in which Navalny had been imprisoned for years, without access to, for example, the medical care he needed. “This once again testifies to the immense brutality of the Russian regime.”
Finally, there is a broad call for “credible investigations” into Navalny’s death, and Russia must “answer questions.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his counterpart at the UN, António Guterres, among others, expressed themselves in strong terms.
During the day, people took to the streets in many cities to commemorate Navalny. Several hundred people gathered at the monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam. There were also more than a hundred at the Russian embassy in The Hague. Similar meetings took place in Paris and Berlin.
In Moscow, Roland Galharague, ambassador to Russia on behalf of the European Union, left flowers at the Solovetsky stone. On images of the BBC you can see that more people are laying flowers in that place. The stone is a monument to the victims of political repression in Soviet times.
It also shows that the police have arrested two people. It concerns a man with a megaphone and a woman with a sign. It is not clear why they were arrested.
Russian authorities have warned citizens not to participate in demonstrations following Navalny’s death. Yet images circulated on social media of people in other Russian cities also reflecting on the death of the Putin critic. The country will go to the polls in March for new presidential elections.
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2024-02-16 19:52:00
#death #Alexei #Navalny #Death #Navalny
