Navalny's wife claims that poison led to his death, specifically referring to Putin's critic, Navalny.
In a tragic turn of events, Alexei Navalny, a renowned Russian opposition leader, passed away while incarcerated at an Arctic prison in February 2024. His death, believed to be due to poisoning, according to laboratory analysis of smuggled biological samples, has sent shockwaves through the Russian opposition and the international community.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most formidable critic for years, had exposed the alleged ill-gotten gains of Putin's inner circle. His investigations into corruption within the Kremlin had rallied hundreds of thousands across Russia in anti-Kremlin protests.
Following Navalny's death, Russian authorities refused for days to release his body to his relatives. Yulia Navalnaya, his wife, urged the labs to independently release their results and specify which poison they believe was used. She maintained that her husband was killed on Putin's orders.
Navalny was jailed upon his return to Russia in January 2021 and was convicted on a series of charges, including "extremism". His lawyers and journalists who followed his court cases were sentenced to years in prison. Testimony from prison officials claimed that Navalny had been convulsing on the floor before his death.
The Kremlin denies the charges of Navalny's murder. However, it has escalated a crackdown against Navalny's allies and opponents since his death. The Kremlin introduced military censorship, ramped up its targeting of dissenters and critics, and effectively outlawed criticism both of the Kremlin and the invasion. Yulia Navalnaya was added to a "terrorists and extremists" blacklist by the Kremlin.
Navalny's family and key allies have long lived abroad. Before his burial, his wife Yulia Navalnaya claimed his allies were able to obtain and securely transfer biological samples of Alexei abroad for analysis. The toxicological analysis of the samples was conducted at the Spiez Laboratory in Switzerland.
The Russian opposition, plagued by infighting, has struggled for relevance in exile following Navalny's death. Public displays of opposition to Putin inside Russia have become exceptionally rare since he invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Navalny's previous poisoning with a nerve agent of the Novichok type in 2020 while campaigning in Siberia had led to him being flown to Germany for treatment. The labs in two countries concluded that Alexei was poisoned, but details of the samples and specific results were not disclosed. Yulia Navalnaya published unverified photos of her husband's prison cell after his body was removed, showing a pool of vomit on the floor.
The death of Alexei Navalny marks a significant loss for the Russian opposition and a concerning escalation in the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent.
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