Yulia Navalnaya has pledged to carry on her deceased husband, Alexei Navalny’s, mission for a “free Russia,” urging supporters to escalate their opposition to President Vladimir Putin with unprecedented intensity.Navalnaya’s plea for defiance against Putin was made from outside Russia, ahead of a presidential vote expected to reaffirm Putin’s leadership for another six years.In a passionate nine-minute video, the 47-year-old widow blamed Putin for her husband’s death, stating it had torn away half of her soul and left their children fatherless.”I aim to live in a free Russia and contribute to its creation,” Navalnaya declared in her video titled “I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny.””I call upon you to join me,” she continued. “I want you to feel my fury. Fury, anger, hatred towards those who dared to steal our future.”“They are cowardly and meanly hiding his body, refusing to give it to his mother and lying miserably while waiting for the trace of” poison to disappear, Navalnaya said, suggesting her husband might have been killed with a Novichok-style nerve agent.Navalnaya’s current location was not disclosed, but she was not in Russia. She participated in a Brussels meeting with European Union foreign ministers on Monday, discussing potential additional sanctions against Russia following her husband’s death.”Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” she asserted. “By murdering Alexei, Putin has extinguished half of me – half of my heart and soul. Yet, I retain my other half, compelling me not to surrender. I am committed to continuing Alexei Navalny’s work and our fight for our nation.”Navalny, 47, died abruptly on Friday during a walk at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in the Arctic, where he was serving a long sentence, as stated by the prison service.The West and Navalny’s allies hold Putin accountable for his demise, although the Kremlin denies any involvement, dismissing Western accusations against Putin as unfounded.While Putin has not commented on Navalny’s death, it has significantly worsened the rift between Moscow and the West, already strained by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.When queried about Putin’s response to Navalny’s death, his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “I have nothing to add.”
File photo: Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia walk during an opposition rally in Moscow, in 2013.
Who is Yulia Navalnaya?
She is a 47-year-old economist and mother of two, who has been married to Alexei since 1998.Yulia and Alexei Navalny met on a holiday in Turkey and fell in love immediately. They have two children together. Yulia, a trained economist, prioritized family life over her career while supporting Alexei’s political endeavors.She has supported her husband’s political activism, but has mostly stayed away from the media spotlight and focused on raising their children, Daria and Zakhar.She has also endured many hardships and dangers as the wife of a dissident, such as flying with him to Germany when he was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020, and returning with him to Moscow in 2021, where he was arrested and sentenced to 19 years in prison.She has been vocal about holding Putin and his allies responsible for her husband’s death, and has vowed to continue his fight for democracy and justice in Russia.
New opposition leader
However, continuing Navalny’s crusade is fraught with challenges and risks for Yulia .Leading the opposition from within Russia almost guarantees arrest, while leadership from abroad risks being labeled as a puppet of foreign powers by Moscow.”Should (Navalnaya) undertake this in Russia, her fate may mirror her late husband’s,” said Alexei Levinson from the Levada Center, while discussing the perils of domestic opposition leadership with Reuters.”Leading from abroad tends to diminish influence on Russia’s internal affairs, as seen with others attempting to impact Russian politics from outside,” he added.The Russian government has branded Navalny and his followers as extremists linked to the CIA, aiming to destabilize Russia, and has banned his organization.State media in Russia did not cover Navalnaya’s video message. Some reports suggested she might soon be labeled a “foreign agent” without naming sources.As per a Politico report, Navalnaya seems to be mirroring the path of Belarus’ Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who stepped into the political arena as an opposition figure after her husband was imprisoned. Without prior political experience, she quickly became a central figure in the protests against the authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin’s next target
Each of her public appearances has been meticulously analyzed by Russian state-controlled media, where commentators have criticized her for seeming overly joyful or for allegedly following directives from the CIA.”She has demonstrated remarkable bravery, as it’s evident she’ll be the next one in line for the Kremlin’s defamation efforts,” said Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer and seasoned Navalny associate, speaking to POLITICO from her exile in Berlin. “They will attempt to dismantle her.”
We must do more“I realize it may appear that continuing the fight is futile,” she said in her video. “Yet, we must do more. We must unite into a single powerful force and strike against this deranged regime – Putin, his allies, corrupt officials, and criminals who have devastated our country.”(With inputs from agencies)
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