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An emotional Yulia Navalny choked back tears as she warned Vladimir Putin and “his friends that they will not go unpunished” in her first comments since her husband Alexei was announced dead by Russia.
Ms Navalny addressed the Munich Security Conference on Friday afternoon after the Russian prison service said Mr Navalny, 47, collapsed and died after becoming unwell during a walk.
She also called upon the international community to come together and fight against the “horrific regime” in Russia.
The Kremlin was accused of a “brutal” assassination after Mr Navalny was announced dead on Friday, sparking outrage among world leaders.
An emotional Yulia Navalny chokes back tears in an address to the Munich Security Conference after Russia said her jailed husband Alexei had died
(REUTERS)
Prominent anti-corruption activist Mr Navalny had been serving his sentence at an Artic penal colony. The Siberian prison service said Mr Navalny “almost immediately lost consciousness” after becoming unwell.
It said medical staff had been called, but that they were unable to resuscitate him. It added the reason of death was being established.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said Mr Navalny’s death “underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built”.
Rishi Sunak, the UK prime minister, said it was “terrible news”, adding that Mr Navalny had “demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life.”
Alexei Navalny being arrested
(AFP via Getty Images)
“My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy,” he added.
Mr Navalny had become the leading figurehead for the opposition against Putin in Russia, organising anti-Kremlin protests and serving several stints in jail.
He first came to prominence as blogger in 2010, publishing investigations into corruption in Russia.
As Mr Navalny’s team sought confirmation of his death and warned against Kremlin “propaganda”, Latvian president Edgars Rinkevics was among those who noted that his death would amount to being “brutally murdered by the Kremlin”.
The Kremlin has said that it had no information about Navalny’s death, but that Putin had been been informed.
Mr Navalny had been sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony around 40 miles of the Arctic Circle in charges his supporters say were politically motivated.
He was moved from his former prison in the Vladimir region of central Russia in December to the “special regime” penal colony, which has the highest security level of prisons in Russia.
The political agitator has been behind bars since January 2021 when Navalny had been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption, organized major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office.
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