As much as possible, Yulia Navalnaya has always avoided the spotlight.
She has always been at her husband's side in all the most difficult moments, but without entering directly into politics.
However, the tragic death in prison of Putin's number one rival could radically change the situation.
"I will continue the work of Alexey Navalny", you announced today in a video that immediately went around the world.
But who is Yulia Navalnaya?
Yulia Borisovna Abrosimova (Navalnaya is the surname she took after her marriage) was born in Moscow 47 years ago, just six weeks before her future husband.
She is the daughter of a Russian scientist, she graduated in International Economic Relations at the prestigious Plekhanov University and then worked in a bank for several years.
Her love with Alexey Navalny blossomed during a holiday in Turkey, way back in 1998. A deep bond, which led them to marriage two years later, and above all to being inseparable companions in the midst of a thousand storms.
Yulia has always been close to her husband, who has been through a lot in these years in which Putin has caused Russia to sink into an authoritarian drift which is now accelerating further: physical attacks, trouble with a justice system closely linked to the government, continuous arrests for the protests he organized against the Kremlin.
But it was in August 2020 that Navalnaya became known throughout the world: when she took courage with both hands and did everything possible to save the life of her husband, in a coma due to a poisoning for which the Moscow secret services.
It was she who, hiding fear and pain behind a pair of dark glasses, informed about the opponent's health conditions and questioned the conclusions of the Omsk doctors who, probably under pressure from the authorities, ruled out that Navalny had been poisoned.
And it was always she who wrote to Putin with her request, which was eventually granted, to be able to transfer her husband to a clinic in Berlin.
Even during her long convalescence in Germany, Yulia Navalnaya was always close to Alexei, who as soon as he came out of the coma immediately dedicated his first public words to her, entrusted to a post on the Internet: "Yulia, you saved me".
And she was also at her side when he returned to Moscow, in January 2021, despite knowing that they would arrest him.
Their kiss at Sheremetyevo airport, before the dissident was taken away by agents, is now history.
The Kremlin's shadow looms over Navalny's death in prison.
Now it could be his wife who takes up his political legacy.
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