Yulia Navalnaya
Moscow correspondent: If Navalny’s widow becomes opposition leader, the Kremlin will change the rules of the game
Watch the video: Moscow correspondent – if Navalny’s widow becomes opposition leader, the Kremlin will change the rules of the game.
Video source: n-tv
So far, Putin has not reacted to the announcement of a possible successor to Navalny’s wife Yulia as opposition leader – but that could change quickly, reports Moscow correspondent Peter Leontyev.
The widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has appeared unimpressed by the Kremlin’s sharp reaction to her video message about the death of her husband, who died in custody, and has demanded that her husband’s body be returned. “I don’t care at all what the killer’s spokesman says about my words,” Yulia Navalnaya wrote on Tuesday on the online service X (formerly Twitter). Shortly thereafter, X briefly blocked her account for an alleged violation of the online service’s rules. Meanwhile, the US announced that it would announce new sanctions against Russia on Friday.
Navalny’s widow had previously made Russian President Vladimir Putin directly responsible for her husband’s death in a video. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed her statements as “filthy.” According to Russian prison authorities, the prominent Kremlin critic Navalny, who was considered Putin’s most important domestic political adversary, collapsed and died while walking in a penal colony in the Russian polar region on Friday. The reasons for the 47-year-old’s death are being investigated, it said. To date, his body has not been released and has not been independently examined.
opposition in Russia
Arrested, poisoned, expelled: This is how Putin’s opponents risk their lives
Navalny widow: X/Twitter account briefly blocked
“Give Alexei’s body back and let us give him a dignified burial – don’t stop people from saying goodbye to him,” Navalnaya demanded on Tuesday on blocked. X blocks accounts that violate our rules”. No further information was given as to the reasons – the account was available again around 50 minutes later.
Navalny’s mother also again called for the body to be released immediately. “Let me finally see my son (…) so that I can bury him in a humane way,” said Lyudmila Navalnaya, who was denied access to a morgue where Navalny’s body is said to have been located for several days. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch had previously stated that the body was being hidden “to cover up the traces of the murder.”
Yulia Navalnaya declared on Monday in a video that was viewed millions of times that Putin had killed her husband and assured that she would continue Navalny’s work. Kremlin spokesman Peskov then described her words as “foul and absolutely unfounded accusations against the Russian head of state.” In view of the fact that Navalnaya has become a widow, he will not comment further on her words, the Kremlin spokesman said.
Watch the video: Widow about the circumstances of Navalny’s death: “They are now hiding his body meanly and cowardly.”
USA: New sanctions against Russia
Peskov also rejected an EU call for an “international investigation” into Navalny’s death, which was called for on Monday after talks with Navalnaya in Brussels. “We generally do not accept such demands – and especially not from Mr. Borrell,” said Peskov, referring to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
As her team explained, Navalnaya called on the EU on Monday not to recognize the results of the upcoming Russian presidential election, in which Putin is likely to be confirmed in office until at least 2030. “A president who kills his main political opponent cannot, by definition, be legitimate,” she said.
The US plans to announce new sanctions against Russia on Friday as a result of Navalny’s death – “to hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr Navalny,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.
Great consternation after Navalny’s death
The punitive measures also came in response to Russian actions “during this vicious and brutal war that has been raging for two years now,” Kirby continued, referring to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
Navalny’s sudden death on Friday caused international consternation. Many Western politicians blame the Russian leadership and Putin himself for the death. Several countries, including Germany, France, Poland and Italy, summoned the Russian ambassador, and the EU summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires.
Meanwhile, there was criticism for the Italian deputy prime minister and former Putin admirer, Matteo Salvini. The head of the right-wing Lega party said it was “a matter for Russian doctors and judges” to determine Navalny’s cause of death. Asked about Salvini’s statement, EU foreign policy chief Borrell referred to a joint EU statement that assigned responsibility to the “Russian president and the Russian authorities.” Italy also approved this declaration, said Borrell. He advises “government members to simply read what their governments” have passed.