As of: February 16, 2024, 4:32 p.m
By: Natascha Berger
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Putin critic Alexei Navalny was declared dead.
The 47-year-old leaves behind two children and his wife Julija Navalnaya.
Will she now become the leader of the Russian opposition?
Moscow – Alexei Navalny, Putin critic and leading opposition politician, is said to have died on February 16 at the age of 47.
According to Russian prison authorities, Navalny collapsed and lost consciousness while walking in a Siberian penal colony.
Attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful.
The activist, who was declared dead, leaves behind a son and a daughter as well as his wife Julija Navalnaya.
In the media, the economist is often referred to as the “first lady of the Russian opposition”.
Is she following in Alexei Navalny's footsteps?
Navalny declared dead: His wife Julija Navalnaya speaks at the Munich Security Conference
Julija Navalnaya spoke at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
“I don’t know whether we should believe the terrible news that we receive exclusively from Russian state sources,” she said.
One cannot believe Putin and his government.
Previously, Navalny and his family's press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, said the family did not yet have any information and could neither confirm the death nor a cause of death.
Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia Navalnaya after a rally in 2013. © Evgeny Feldman/AP
Yulia Navalnaya publicly criticizes Putin and the imprisonment of government critics
Just last November, Alexei Navalny was awarded the Bambi in the “Courage” category.
However, since the alleged deceased was unable to attend the award ceremony due to his imprisonment in Russia, his wife Yulia Navalnaya accepted the award.
It would make her even happier if her husband could be there in person, said Navalnaya on stage at the award ceremony.
“But he is in prison.
Like many others who criticize Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, protest or write comments on social media,” she said.
Navalny's wife Julija Navalnaya has also been arrested in Moscow
Julija Navalnaya did not always appear in public as an activist; she assisted Navalny in his political projects for many years in the background.
However, since the poison attack on the Kremlin critic in 2020, the Moscow native has become a strong political opposition figure.
She called for protests for the release of Alexei Navalny in Moscow via social media.
The mother of two was arrested as a participant in 2021 and held in police custody for several hours.
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The police arrested Alexei Navalny (M) several times during protests - here the day after Putin's inauguration in 2012. His wife was also taken into custody after a protest.
© Sergey Ponomarev/AP
After Navalny's alleged death: Will Julija Navalnaya follow in his footsteps?
It is unclear whether the “First Lady of the Russian Opposition” will now become more politically active after the alleged death of her husband and follow in Navalny’s footsteps.
In an interview with
Spiegel
in March 2023, the 47-year-old said that she read many articles that dealt with exactly this question.
But she doesn't want to play with this idea herself:
To become a politician you have to want it.
And I made a different choice: my husband is the opposition leader, he is in prison and I support him and draw attention to his situation.
Julija Navalnaya in an interview 2023
Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia married in 2000, the same year Putin became president of Russia.
The Russian-born couple met on vacation in Türkiye in 1998.
The couple's daughter, Daria Navalnaja, came to Wellt in 2001 and their son Zahar Navalny in 2008. Navalny's daughter has also repeatedly expressed criticism of her father's imprisonment on social media and on political stages in the past and most recently called for his release .