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An activist stands in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin with a poster of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and protests.
© Paul Zinken/dpa
Russia's leading opposition politician is dead. Alexei Navalny died in a prison camp.
Zelenskyj assumes that Navalny was killed.
The NATO Secretary General demands answers from Moscow.
Berlin - Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reacted with horror to reports about the death of leading Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison.
“But we now know exactly what kind of regime this is,” said the SPD politician in Berlin.
At a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he recalled how he met Navalny in Berlin when he was trying to recover from a poison attack in Germany.
He also talked to Navalny about the great courage it would take to return to the country.
Scholz: “And he has probably now paid for this courage with his life.”
Scholz said that anyone in Russia who expresses criticism and supports democracy must fear for safety and life.
“We are with the family, the wife and the child and all the relatives and friends,” said Scholz.
“And it is something completely terrible, also as a sign of how Russia has changed.
After the hopeful developments that were moving in the direction of democracy, which unfortunately took place a long time ago, this is no longer a democracy.”
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel blames the death on the Russian state.
“He was a victim of Russia’s repressive state power.
It is terrible that a courageous, fearless voice that stood up for his country was silenced using terrible methods," said the CDU politician.
“My thoughts are with his wife, his children, his friends and his co-workers.”
“The Putin regime has him on his conscience”
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock praises Navalny as a role model for freedom and democracy.
“Like no other, Alexei Navalny was a symbol of a free and democratic Russia.
That’s exactly why he had to die,” wrote the Green politician on X, formerly Twitter.
She added: “My thoughts are with his wife and children.”
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck reacts with dismay.
“Alexander Navalny’s death shocks me to the core,” said the Economics and Climate Protection Minister.
“The Putin regime has him on his conscience.” Habeck said Navalny lost his life in his commitment to a better Russia.
“He was a patriot who stood up for democracy and the rule of law and loved his country and the people there.
More than his own life.”
Finance Minister Christian Lindner also reacts with shock.
“Alexei Navalny fought for a democratic Russia.
Putin tortured him to death for it,” wrote the FDP leader on X (formerly Twitter).
This is new evidence of “the criminal character of this regime”.
Even after his death, Navalny will continue to give hope to everyone who fought for a different Russia.
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Zelensky: Navalny was obviously killed
Zelenskyj assumes that Navalny was killed.
According to the official translation, Zelensky said at a joint press conference with Scholz in Berlin that it was very unfortunate that Navalny died in a Russian prison.
It's obvious to me: he was killed.
Like other thousands who were tortured to death because of this one person.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged the government in Moscow to investigate Navalny's death.
“My message is that we have to clarify all the facts and that Russia has to answer all the serious questions about the causes of his death,” said the Norwegian in an initial reaction on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
“I am deeply saddened and very concerned.”
Stoltenberg said of Navalny that he was a strong fighter for freedom and democracy.
NATO will continue to support all those who believe in these values.
Sunak: “Terrible news”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak describes the death of the Russian Kremlin critic as “terrible news”.
“As the fiercest defender of Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny has shown incredible courage throughout his life,” wrote the head of government on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
“My thoughts are with his wife and the Russian people, for whom this is a tremendous tragedy.”
The US government described the death as a “terrible tragedy”.
US President Joe Biden's security advisor, Jake Sullivan, emphasized in an interview with radio station NPR that the US government did not yet have its own confirmation of the death and was therefore initially holding back from commenting.
“Given the Russian government’s long and sordid history of harming its adversaries, this raises real and obvious questions about what happened here,” Sullivan continued.
US Vice President Kamala Harris described the death as “terrible news”.
If the death is confirmed, it would be another sign of the brutality of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, Harris said at the Munich Security Conference.
EU Council President Charles Michel blamed Navalny's Russia.
“The EU holds the Russian regime solely responsible for this tragic death,” Michel wrote on the X platform. Navalny fought for freedom and democracy.
“He made the ultimate sacrifice for his ideals.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte blamed Russia for the death.
“It is indicative of the incredible brutality of the Russian regime,” Rutte said via X.
Navalny fought for democratic values and against corruption of the Russian regime.
Michael Roth: Putin “like a mafia godfather”
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Michael Roth (SPD), wrote on to intimidate.”
Russia is a textbook dictatorship.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach called Navalny a hero on X.
“Through his resistance, he made it clear to the world early on that Putin is a ruthless criminal in office.”
The Vice President of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, wrote on X: “What a murderous system.
Navalny was Putin's feared opponent. He stood for a Russia in which opinions are free and elections are fair.
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour wrote on X: “His courage lives on in the people who oppose the Russian dictatorship.”
Dietmar Bartsch: “Political murder”
The left-wing politicians Dietmar Bartsch and Martin Schirdewan described Navalny's death as a "political murder".
“His shocking death is attributable to Moscow, which had imprisoned Putin’s harshest critic,” Bartsch wrote on
Disgusting!
RIP.”
Left leader Schirdewan also spoke of a “political murder with announcement” and called for the case to be investigated internationally.
dpa