Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most famous opposition leader, He died on Friday after collapsing and losing consciousness in the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, where he was serving a long prison sentence, the Russian prison service said. Navalny, 47, rose to fame more than a decade ago by satirizing President Vladimir Putin and the Russian elite, whom he accused of massive corruption, greed and opulence.
The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug said in a statement that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk in the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow. He lost consciousness almost immediately, he said.
“On February 16, 2024, in Penitentiary No. 3, prisoner Navalny AA felt unwell after a walk and practically lost consciousness,” said a statement from the Yamal Arctic Region Penitentiary Service. “All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, but they did not produce any positive results. Paramedics confirmed the death of the prisoner,” adding that the causes of death were being investigated.
Putin had been informed about Navalny’s death, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Putin, who is running for re-election in a month, appeared in a television clip visiting a factory in the Urals. Navalny’s supporters said they could not confirm he was dead. but if it was him, they believed they had killed him.
“Russian authorities publish a confession that they killed Alexei Navalny in prison,” Navalny adviser Leonid Volkov wrote on social media. “We have no way to confirm this or prove this is not true.”
Condemnation from Western governments quickly emerged. The White House said Navalny’s death, if fully confirmed, would be a “terrible tragedy.” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg assured that Russia would have to answer “serious questions” about the death of its enemy.
“I am very sad and worried… all the facts must be clarified and Russia must answer serious questions,” the senior Norwegian official said on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday lamented the “immense tragedy” that the death of the opponent represented for the Russian people and asserted that Navalny had “demonstrated incredible bravery throughout his life.”
“Shocking news about Alexei Navalny… If the report of his death in a Russian prison is true, it represents another terrible crime by the Putin regime,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on X. “The cruelty against Navalny shows “once again why it is necessary to continue to fight against authoritarianism.”
Navalny’s lawyer was on the way to the “Polar Wolf” prison in Charp, where Navalny died. Russian state television showed a central bank press conference. Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov told Reuters on Friday Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death was a ‘murder’ and said he believed the harsh treatment caused his death.
“My sincere belief is that it was the prison conditions that led to Navalny’s death… His sentence was supplemented with murder,” Muratov said, offering his condolences to his family.
Navalny earned the admiration of the diverse Russian opposition for his voluntary return to Russia from Germany in 2021. where he had been treated for what Western laboratory tests revealed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent. He said at the time that he was poisoned in Siberia in August 2020. The Kremlin denied trying to kill him and said there was no evidence he was poisoned with a nerve agent.
In an interview in Moscow in 2011, Navalny was asked by Reuters whether he was afraid of challenging Putin’s system.
“That’s the difference between you and me: you’re afraid and I’m not,” he said. “I realize there is danger, but why should I be afraid?”
dmr