Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny: “I will continue my husband's work”

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, said this Monday that she will continue with her husband's fight for a free Russia and has urged her followers to fight President Vladimir Putin with more fury than ever.

Navalny's death last Friday deprives the Russian opposition of its most charismatic leader, as Putin prepares for an election that will keep him in power until at least 2030. In a rage-filled nine-minute video message, Navalnaya, 47, has blamed Putin for the death of the dissident, who had two children.

The only response to such a crime, she continued during the recording, is to continue her late husband's work for a free and prosperous Russia.

Russians, Navalnaya has said, want to live differently, even if there seems to be little hope.

“I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” Navalnaya stated in the video message titled

.

“I urge you to be by my side,” she encourages, referring to the Russian opponents, “I ask you to share the rage with me.

Rage, anger, hatred towards those who dared to kill our future.”

Navalnaya has accused Russian authorities of hiding Navalny's body and waiting for traces of the Novichok nerve agent to disappear from his body.

Navalnaya always supported her husband in his battles against the Russian authorities, attending his numerous appearances in court;

her standing next to him at demonstrations, and waiting for his release from her prison.

“Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” Navalnaya said.

“By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me: half of my heart and half of my soul.”

“But I still have the other half,” she continued in front of the camera, “and he tells me that I have no right to give up.

I will continue the work of Alexei Navalni;

“I will continue fighting for our country.”

The Kremlin has denied involvement in the opponent's death, and has declared that claims in the West that Putin was responsible are unacceptable.

The Russian president has warned that there will be a strong response if foreign powers try to meddle in the elections.

Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died suddenly on Friday after a walk through the Lobo Polar prison colony, in the Yamal-Nenets region, in the Arctic, where he was serving a 30-year sentence, according to the version released by the prison service.

Moscow indicated this Monday that the investigation into the death of the opponent is ongoing.

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