Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.Credit…via Alexei Navalny YouTube channel
Navalny’s widow pledged to keep fighting
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, vowed to continue his fight against President Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule.
Navalny, who died at a penal colony on Friday, spent years denouncing Putin and the corruption he saw within his government. Before yesterday Navalnaya had largely shunned the spotlight, but she said she had to fill the void that Navalny’s death left in the opposition movement.
“I am going to continue the work of Aleksei Navalny and continue to fight for our country,” Navalnaya said on her husband’s YouTube channel, adding, “I ask you to share my rage — to share my rage, anger and hatred of those who have dared to kill our future.”
The dangers Navalnaya faces in trying to unite the fractured pro-democracy movement against Putin are significant. The government in 2021 declared her husband’s foundation an extremist organization and disbanded it, sending the group’s main investigators into exile. If Navalnaya returns to Russia, she could be arrested because of her association with the group.
Navalny’s final months: Navalny’s letters show that his mind stayed active, even as brutal prison conditions wore down his body.
