Russia’s prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, died in a remote Arctic prison on February 16th. He was 47, and no cause of death has been specified. Russian authorities claim that he died of natural causes and that he fell ill after returning from his daily walk, fell unconscious, and could not be revived despite “numerous resuscitation attempts.” Western officials and Kremlin critics blame Vladimir Putin and his government for Navalny’s death in prison. Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence on trumped-up charges of corruption and extremism that the United States called “baseless” and supporters say were fabricated to suppress him.
Over the span of a decade, Navalny went from being the Kremlin’s “fiercest foe” to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner. He rose to prominence for exposing high-level corruption within Russia’s government and was recognized as a symbol of opposition during a time of intensified repression of dissent in Russia. Through his social media channels, which he ran even in prison, he published investigations that detailed the excess of Putin’s inner circle “when the country’s household income per capita plunged in an era of cheap gas prices and international sanctions.”
In 2020, while traveling on a work trip, Navalny survived what was widely seen as a poisoning attempt by the Kremlin with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. After five months of recuperating in Germany and instead of living safely in exile, he returned to Russia despite knowing the potential repercussions. He was quickly arrested by Russian authorities and was subject to harsh treatment in prison. The New York Times described his final days as being spent “in some of the most inhumane conditions,” and he was “repeatedly subject to solitary confinement,” which a former inmate described as “complete and utter annihilation.” Navalny refused to live in exile and used court hearings against him to criticize the Kremlin’s repression in Russia and the war against Ukraine.
Western officials were quick to accuse President Vladimir Putin of Navalny’s death, citing the long history of other critics who have been poisoned or met violent ends. Most notably, Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer turned British spy, was found unconscious in 2018, having been poisoned with Novichok, the same nerve agent used against Navalny in 2020. In a White House appearance, President Joe Biden said, “There is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something Putin and his thugs did.”
Thousands came to Navalny’s funeral in Moscow, and at least 400 have been detained since his death. There are no other opposition leaders in Russia of Navalny’s stature, and Putin is posed to win a fifth term in what has been called a “state managed vote.” Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, says she will continue her husband’s work. Alexei Navalny defied the Kremlin’s efforts to intimidate him and crush political opposition. Even when imprisoned, Navalny remained Putin’s most formidable opponent.
