In response to the death of the foremost Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the widow, Yulia Navalny, has delivered a stern warning to President Vladimir Putin and his associates.
Recall that Navalny was alleged to have collapsed and died on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade jail term, the Russian prison service said.
The death of Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, robs the disparate Russian opposition of its most courageous and charismatic leader just as Putin prepares for an election which will keep the former KGB spy in power until at least 2030.
Making the statement from Germany, Navalny declared, “I want Putin, his entourage, Putin’s friends & his gov. to know they will be held responsible for what they have done to our country, my family, and my husband.”
The late Navalny rose to prominence more than a decade ago by speaking publicly – and documenting – what he said was the vast corruption and opulence among the “crooks and thieves” who ran Putin’s Russia.
The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said in a statement that Navalny felt unwell after a walk at the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow into the Arctic Circle.
He lost consciousness almost immediately and died shortly afterwards despite the efforts of the prison’s medical team and ambulance staff, the prison service said. Attempts to resuscitate him failed, it said.
The Kremlin said Putin, who was visiting factories in the Ural mountains, had been informed.
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