MOSCOW, Russia — The spokesperson for Alexei Navalny, a prominent figure in the Russian opposition, confirmed on Saturday that Navalny had tragically passed away at a remote Arctic penal colony. The spokesperson went on to claim that Navalny was ”murdered,” but the location of his body remains unknown as his loved ones desperately seek answers.
At the age of 47, Navalny’s untimely death has left a gaping hole in the Russian opposition, just weeks before an election that is expected to extend President Vladimir Putin’s reign for another six years.
Despite the fact that neither Navalny, a staunch anti-corruption advocate, nor other critics of the Kremlin were in a position to challenge Putin for the presidency, Navalny’s death is a devastating blow to those Russians who had placed their hopes for a brighter future on this seemingly tireless adversary of Putin. His sudden death has also sparked questions about the cause. Russian officials informed Navalny’s team on Saturday that the cause of his death was still under investigation, with the results expected to be released next week, according to Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh. Navalny’s mother was informed that the body would not be released until the investigations were concluded, leading to speculation that the Russian authorities may be attempting to conceal any evidence of foul play. “They’re leading us on a wild goose chase and covering their tracks,” Yarmysh stated.
Yarmysh revealed that a note handed to Navalny’s mother stated that he died at 2:17 p.m. on Friday. Prison officials informed his mother upon her arrival at the penal colony on Saturday that her son had succumbed to “sudden death syndrome,” according to Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, who posted the information on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Yarmysh also stated that a prison colony employee informed them that the body had been transported to the nearby city of Salekhard for a post-mortem investigation. However, when Navalny’s mother and one of his lawyers visited the morgue in Salekhard, they found it closed, according to a post on Navalny’s team’s Telegram channel. The lawyer called the morgue and was told that the body was not there.
Another of Navalny’s lawyers visited Salekhard’s Investigative Committee and was told that the cause of Navalny’s death was still under investigation, with the results expected to be released next week. The Investigative Committee also informed Navalny’s team that the body would not be released to his family until the investigations were concluded.
“It’s clear that they are lying and doing everything in their power to avoid releasing the body,” Yarmysh posted on X, adding that his team demanded that Navalny’s body “be immediately released to his family.”
The Federal Penitentiary Service in Russia reported that Navalny fell ill after a walk on Friday and lost consciousness at the penal colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region, approximately 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow. An ambulance was called, but they were unable to revive him. The service added that the cause of death is still “being established.”
Maria Pevchikh, the head of the board of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, stated that the opposition leader would ”live on forever in millions of hearts.”
“Navalny was murdered. We still don’t know how we’ll continue living, but together, we’ll figure something out,” she posted on X.
Meanwhile, arrests continued on Saturday as Russians gathered to lay flowers in memory of Navalny at memorials dedicated to the victims of Soviet-era purges. OVD-Info, a group that monitors political repression in Russia, reported on Saturday that more than 273 people had been detained at memorial events since Navalny’s death.
Memorial items laid on Friday were removed overnight, but people continued to arrive with flowers on Saturday. In Moscow, a large crowd chanted ”shame” as police forcibly removed a woman from the crowd, as seen in a video shared on social media.
More than 10 people were detained at a memorial in St. Petersburg, including a priest who had come to conduct a service for Navalny.
In other cities across the country, police cordoned off some of the memorials and officers were seen taking photographs of those who came and recording their personal data in an apparent attempt at intimidation.
“After the murder of Alexei Navalny, it’s absurd to perceive Putin as the supposedly legitimate head of the Russian state,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday. “He is a thug who maintains power through corruption and violence.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated on Saturday that Britain “will be taking action” against the Russians responsible for Navalny’s death.
Speaking to broadcasters in Munich, Cameron stated that “there should be consequences” for “appalling human rights outrages like this.” He said Britain would “look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take.” Cameron did not specify whether the response would involve financial sanctions or other measures.
President Joe Biden stated on Friday that Washington doesn’t know exactly what happened, “but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something Putin and his thugs did.”
The Kremlin reacted angrily on Friday to the outpouring of anger from world leaders, with Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, describing the statements — issued before medics have released the cause of Navalny’s death — as “unacceptable” and “outrageous.”
Navalny had been imprisoned since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was later convicted three times, claiming each case was politically motivated, and received a sentence of 19 years for extremism.
After the last verdict, Navalny stated that he understood he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.”
Nigel Gould-Davies, a former British ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow for Russia & Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, stated that the loss of Navalny shows that “the sentence in Russia now for opposition is not merely imprisonment, but death.”
Hours after the news of Navalny’s death was reported, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, made a dramatic appearance at the Munich conference.
She stated that she was unsure if she could believe the news from official Russian sources, “but if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around Putin, Putin’s friends, his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family and to my husband.”
Disagree with the Kremlin’s tactics and hope justice is served for Navalny.