Russia: Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny, has posted a video address in which she vowed to continue her late husband’s political work and called on Russians to rally around her to fight for a free Russia.
Navalnaya’s impactful nine-minute video was posted on social media. In the video, she made a strong statement that, “I will continue Alexei Navalny’s work. I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia.”
The widow of Alexei, accused the Russian authorities of murdering her husband, hiding his body, and waiting for traces of the nerve agent Novichok to disappear from it. “I shouldn’t have been in this place, I shouldn’t be recording this video. There should have been another person in my place. But that person was killed by Vladimir Putin,” Navalnaya added.
She said that, “She knew why exactly Putin killed Alexei three days ago. And we will tell you that soon.” Navalnaya shared her thoughts on her demised husband, stating that, Putin had not only killed Alexei, but a part of her as well. She expressed that her heart and soul have been shattered, but she is determined to keep fighting for justice. Despite not having seen her husband in two years, she remains steadfast in her resolve to seek the truth.
Yulia avoided public attention for many years, seldom granting interviews to the media. Instead, she supported her husband as he led massive protests in Russia, helped transport him out of the country when he was in a coma following a poisoning, and bravely returned to Moscow with him.
Alexei’s wife lived outside of Russia and stated that her primary goal was to safeguard her two children from the consequences of her late husband’s political involvement.
“Putin killed the father of my children. Putin took away the most precious thing I had, the closest person to me, and the person I loved most in the world,” she remarked. Alexei Navalny’s last note to the outer world was a Valentine’s Day note to his wife that, “I feel that you are with me every second.”
After the death of Putin’s vocal critic, many people both inside and outside Russia are considering Navalny as the rightful successor of the Russian opposition. This is happening at a time when the death of Navalny has left many Russian dissidents shocked and disheartened. Some people have taken to social media to express their support for her. Navalnaya is scheduled to attend a meeting with foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states at the EU foreign affairs council in Brussels.
The aides of the deceased reported that his mother and lawyers were denied access to the morgue in Salekhard, Russia, near the prison colony where he passed away. Navalny’s representative Kira Yarmysh noted on X that, “One of the lawyers was literally pushed out.” She further stated that the morgue staff refused to answer questions about the location of Navalny’s body.
Over the weekend, Lyudmila Navalny, the mother of Alexei Navalny, and his lawyer travelled to the “Polar Wolf” IK-3 penal colony in Russia’s Arctic north where Navalny had been imprisoned since last year. They aimed to locate Navalny’s body, but they received conflicting information from different institutions regarding its whereabouts. Sadly, they had to leave without being able to find or see Alexei’s body.
TRENDING | Vladimir Putin’s vocal critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison
