“Stand by me”
Navalny’s widow declares a “bitter” fight against Putin
February 19, 2024, 2:01 p.m
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For the widow of Kremlin opponent Navalny it is clear: Vladimir Putin killed her husband. In a video message she promises to find the perpetrators. And she announces that she wants to continue her husband’s fight for a free Russia.
Alexei Navalny’s widow has blamed Russian leader Vladimir Putin for her husband’s death. “Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” Navalnaya said in a video message. With Navalny, Putin wanted to “kill our hope, our freedom, our future,” she added, close to tears.
Navalnaya promised to continue her husband’s work. “I will continue to fight for the freedom of our country,” she announced in her message and called on his followers: “Stand with me.” Navalnaya had stood by her husband in his fight against Putin for ten years.
The leader of the Russian opposition died on Friday in a Siberian prison camp under circumstances that are still unclear. According to Russian information, he collapsed in freezing temperatures while walking in the camp north of the Arctic Circle.
“I’m not afraid”
She said her husband was tormented and tortured to death in the prison camp for three years. He was repeatedly locked in solitary confinement in a small concrete box. “We will definitely find out exactly who committed this crime and how it was carried out. We will name names and show faces.” Putin took away her dearest and most valuable person, half of her soul and heart, said Navalnaya. She will now use the other half to fight, like her husband, against injustice and corruption and for a free Russia. “More desperate and bitter than before,” argued Navalnaya. “I’m not afraid.”
Moscow, meanwhile, rejects the allegations. The Kremlin instead said the investigation into Navalny’s death was ongoing. The Russian authorities have so far refused to hand over the opposition leader’s body to his mother and lawyer. His supporters see this as a maneuver by the “murderers” to “cover their tracks.”