As of: February 19, 2024, 2:33 p.m
By: Sonja Thomaser
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Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny, becomes the new voice of the opposition.
Their courageous fight against the Putin regime in Russia continues.
Brussels – Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, continues to fight.
After her husband died in Russian camp custody, Navalnaya addressed the public with forceful messages and stood up for her husband and his cause - which many interpreted as a sign that she would now enter Russian opposition politics in his place.
Navalnaya is expected to attend the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday (February 19).
As EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reported on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on Sunday (February 18), the EU foreign ministers wanted to “send a strong signal of support for the freedom fighters in Russia” and the memory of Navalny at their meeting to honor.
According to his spokeswoman, EU Council President Charles Michel wants to receive Navalnaya.
Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Alexei Navalny, during her speech at the Munich Security Conference.
© Kai Pfaffenbach/dpa
Navalnaya with clear words against Putin
Both supporters and opponents of Navalny are wondering whether Navalnaya will now return to Russia and play a role in opposition politics and the structures created by her husband.
“She has already spoken at the Munich Security Conference and blamed the Russian authorities for her husband’s fate,” writes the Russian daily
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
.
Shortly after the news of her husband's death, Navalnaya appeared at the Munich Security Conference on Friday (February 16) and, in a highly acclaimed speech, called for a fight against President Vladimir Putin's Russian power apparatus: "I want Putin, his whole Putin's circle, his friends and his government know: They will be held accountable for what they did to our country, to my family and to my husband.”
Navalnaya is just as much a public figure in Russia as her husband
Her speech in Munich further strengthened her reputation as a strong woman and personality.
Navalny himself said of his wife that without her he would not have endured his bitter fight against the Kremlin and President Putin.
Julia Navalnaya is now just as much of a public figure as her husband.
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Navalny's colleagues even dreamed of Navalny's future as a politician, even before Navalny himself was behind bars.
At the time, she always denied this and emphasized that she was, above all, a mother and wife.
Return to Russia ended in prison for Navalny
After Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in Siberia in August 2020 and fell into a coma, Yulia Navalnaya fought for days to ensure that her husband was treated in Germany instead of in Russia.
The Russian doctors refused for days, but eventually they managed to fly Navalny to Berlin.
“At every moment I thought, 'I have to get him out of here,'” Navalnaya later reported.
Five months later, she showed strength again when the couple returned to Moscow - knowing full well that the trip would end in prison.
“Waiter, bring us vodka, we’re going home,” Navalnaya said during the flight, quoting a line from a Russian cult film.
After landing, at passport control, the couple was separated and never saw each other again.
A crowd of people greeted Navalnaya in front of the airport with shouts of “Julia!”
Russia against Navalny and Navalnaya: Suppress expressions of sympathy
After the death of Alexei Navalny, many are wondering who other than Navalnaya could unite the Russian opposition, which has been decimated or driven into exile by countless arrests, as a leading figure.
Some are counting on Navalnaya and their daughter Darja as the new guiding stars of the Russian opposition.
“There is nothing stronger in the world than a mother and daughter fighting against the system because of the death of their husband and father,” writes the well-known women's rights activist Alyona Popova on Instagram, for example.
The political scientist Tatjana Stanovaya predicts that the Russian power apparatus will continue to “ignore and cover up” Navalny’s death as best it can and suppress any expressions of sympathy for the opposition figure.
The situation is definitely risky for the Kremlin, she explains: “The authorities must make efforts to ensure that today’s shock (…) does not develop into a political movement,” she writes.
“Julia Navalnaya will become a political figure whether she wants it or not”
“So far, Putin and war opponents have sat pragmatically silent and understood the pointlessness of protests.
Now emotions could play a role.” Looking at Navalnaya, Stanovaya is certain: “Julia Navalnaya will become a political figure, whether she wants it or not.
Your words now have special meaning and weight within the oppositional environment (…).
She has to manage this resource.”
Russia is undoubtedly dangerous for Navalnaya.
Nothing is known about her whereabouts, except that she lives somewhere outside of Russia, reports the NZZ
, among others
.
Russia is cracking down on expressions of sympathy for Navalny
The Russian power apparatus is cracking down on any form of solidarity with Navalny.
Since the death of the Kremlin critic, Russian courts have sentenced more than 150 people to prison for public expressions of grief.
Court documents show that on Saturday and Sunday in St. Petersburg alone, 154 people were sentenced to up to two weeks in prison for violating Russia's strict assembly laws.
(so with dpa/afp)