Jailed Russian opposition leader Navalny reported dead; Western leaders blame Kremlin

Alexei Navalny Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most famous opposition leader, died on February 16 after collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a long jail term, the Russian prison service said.

Navalny, 47, rose to prominence more than a decade ago by lampooning President Vladimir Putin and the Russian elite whom he accused of vast corruption, avarice and opulence.

The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said in a statement that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) north east of Moscow.

He lost consciousness almost immediately, it said.

“All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict,” the prison service said, adding that causes of death were being established.

Mr. Putin has been told about Navalny’s death, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Mr. Putin, who is running for re-election in a month, was shown on a television clip visiting a factory in the Urals.

Meanwhile, the press secretary of Navalny said on the X social media platform on Friday that she was unable to confirm his death, which was reported by the country’s prison service earlier.

Kira Yarmysh said that Navalny’s lawyer was travelling to the site of the prison where he had been serving his sentence.

The former head of Navalny’s political organisation Leonid Volkov alleged that if it were true that he is dead, then Russian President Vladimir Putin killed him.

Mr. Volkov wrote on X: “We have no basis to believe state propaganda. If it’s true, then it’s not ‘Navalny died’, but only that ‘Putin killed him’. But I don’t believe them for a second.” 

‘Russia responsible for Navalny’s death’: World leaders react

Western governments and Russian opposition figures said the Kremlin was responsible for his death.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said news of Alexei Navalny’s death was terrible. “This is terrible news. As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life,” Sunak said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy,” he added.

The European Union said held President Vladimir Putin’s Russia solely responsible for the death. “Alexei Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice,” European Council President Charles Michel posted on X. “The EU holds the Russian regime for sole responsible for this tragic death.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the reports. “We need to establish all the facts, and Russia needs to answer all the serious questions about the circumstances of his death,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. 

 Navalny has paid with his life for his ‘resistance to a system of oppression’, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said in comments on the death of the famous Russian political activist. “His death in a penal colony reminds us of the reality of Vladimir Putin’s regime”, said Sejourne.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “very sad” about reports, adding that it was a “terrible” sign of how Russia as a country had changed in recent years. 

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on X on Friday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was “brutally murdered by the Kremlin”.

“Whatever your thoughts about Alexei Navalny as the politician, he was just brutally murdered by the Kremlin. That’s a fact and that is something one should know about the true nature of Russia’s current regime. My condolences to the family and friends,” he wrote.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares demanded a “clarification of the circumstances” of the death of Alexei Navalny in prison. “Deeply shocked by the death of Alexei Navalny. We demand clarification of the circumstances of his death, which occurred during his unjust imprisonment for political reasons,” Albares wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that what she called Western accusations about the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny were “self-revealing”.

In a statement posted on the messenger app Telegram, Ms. Zakharova said that forensic results on Navalny’s death were still unavailable but that the West had already reached its own conclusions. Ms. Zakharova did not clarify which accusations she was referring to.

Opposition leader

Navalny’s exposes, posted on his YouTube channel racked up millions of views and brought tens of thousands of Russians to the streets, despite Russia’s harsh anti-protests laws.

He was jailed in early 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was recuperating from a near-fatal poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.