Alexei Navalny Has Died After Hours

[Best]

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has died in prison, according to Russian authorities.

The ardent critic of President Vladimir Putin has been jailed since 2021.

In December, he was moved to a notorious artic penal colony, thousands of miles to the north-east of Moscow in Siberia.

A reason has not yet been given for his death, though prison authorities have said he felt unwell after a walk on Friday and then fell unconscious.

Navalny, who campaigned against what he described as rampant corruption within Russia, was poisoned in 2020 in what Western laboratories later confirmed to be a nerve agent.

In his last public appearance from prison on 10 January, Navalny joked that he that he was yet to receive any Christmas mail, due to being "quite far away".

Timeline of events: Why was Navalny Putin's greatest antagonist

2007 - Owing to his savvy use of social media in the form of a blog, Alexei Navalny gains prominence by documenting his investment in state-owned oil companies, in search of evidence of corruption.

Shortly after, he was expelled from liberal opposition party Yabloko for taking part in 'nationalist activities'.

December 2011- Alexei's Anti-Corruption foundation has amassed a sizeable following exposing the riches of Kremlin elites. Later that year, he becomes a key leader of election protest after Putin's United Russia party wins the vote despite the Kremlin's campaign being marred by allegations of fraud.

July 2013 - Navalny is arrested on embezzlement charges; accused by the Russian government of fraud amounting to 16 million rubles ($500,000). He denies the charges.

September 2013 - A bid to become Moscow's mayor, sees Navalny finish in second place with strong support to Kremlin backed Sergei Sobyanin.

December 2018 - Five years later, Navalny's presence continues to disrupt Putin's idealised Russia as he attempts to run for president. However, Putin bans his run, citing Navalny's embezzlement conviction. Despite Navalny urging Russian's to boycott the vote, Putin goes on to win a fourth term.

August 2020 - Navalny is hospitalised in Siberia and placed in a medically induced coma after losing consciousness during a flight. Tests show he was poisoned by Novichok, a nerve agent commonly used in the Soviet era. The Kremlin denies being responsible for the attack.

January 2021 - Returning to Moscow, Navalny is detained at the airport. Thousands of people demonstrate across Russia for his release.

February 2021 - Alexei is handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence for breaching the conditions of a suspended sentence while recuperating in Germany. He is sent to a penal colony.

August 2023 - Navalny's sentence is increased to nine years after a conviction on new charges of embezzlement and contempt of court. An additional 19 years at a "special regime" facility are added on charges of extremism.

December 2023 - After going missing for two weeks, the opposition leader is located in a penal colony in the North Arctic.

February 2024 - Alexei Navalny dies in prison.

 

[Best]

In retrospect, it's kind of surprising that he lasted this long since returning to Russia. Putin is such a disgusting fecker.

 

[Scotty G]

A brave man who will hopefully be long remembered for what he stood for.

 

[Gemma]

I can't say I'm surprised. Especially with the way Prigozhin was killed, I was rather surprised that Navalny was allowed to live and even communicate with the outside world but things took a turn for the worse when he was transferred to Siberia.

 

[Tom]

Murdered, no doubt but unsurprising. A brave man died in a country run by a dictator and cowards.

One wonders how many have been killed before they could reach his stature.

 

[David76]

He was definitely murdered, regardless of whenever the technical cause of his death is natural or unnatural.

I know Navalny himself wasn't entirely clean as a whistle but then again, when you want to challenge a dictator with any sort of power and in that environment it d be almost hard to be entirely without some baggage yourself.

Having said that watching his documentary and other clips and interviews with him were very inspiring. The man fought against a system so corrupt he already acknowledged early on he can likely only hope to be an impetus for change and that his life may end much sooner than normal. For Putin to get rid of him now with the world's attention divided in so many different directions doesn't seem all that surprising. I just hope Russians themselves weren't distracted.

 

[The GOAT]

'Make no mistake, Putin is responsible' - Biden

"I'm both not surprised and outraged at the news," he says.

Biden says he bravely stood up to violence of the Putin regime, for which he was incarcerated, poisoned - and none of that stopped him from standing up to the Kremlin, Biden says.

Biden laud's Navalny's bravery, saying he could have lived abroad in exile after he was poisoned in 2020 - but he didn't.

He was so many things Putin was not - he was brave, dedicated, and believed that a Russia for everybody was a Russia "worth fighting for".

"Make no mistake," Biden adds: "Putin is responsible for Navalny's death."

I'm also surprised he survived so long. I'm sure there is something behind the timing of his death/murder.

Navalny was far from some ideal rival and after his early stances never would be someone I would vote for within solid, consolidated democratic conditions, but he did seem to have genuinely moved (and stayed) in a direction away from that early bigoted far-right populism, one that meant he was worth supporting within the material reality of Putin's dictatorship.

 

[Gemma]

I'm also surprised he survived so long. I'm sure there is something behind the timing of his death/murder.

Navalny was far from some ideal rival and after his early stances never would be someone I would vote for within solid, consolidated democratic conditions, but he did seem to have genuinely moved (and stayed) in a direction away from that early bigoted far-right populism, one that meant he was worth supporting within the material reality of Putin's dictatorship.

They had to at least make it look like an accident.

 

[Gemma]

The body of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny has been returned to his mother, his spokeswoman says.

In a post on X, Kira Yarmysh thanked everybody who had demanded that the authorities hand over his remains.
"The funeral is yet to take place," she wrote.

Navalny's mother Lyudmila had reportedly been told to agree to a "secret" burial. If she refused, he would be buried at the prison colony where he died.

She has spent the last week in the town close to the prison where he died, trying to first confirm the location of his body then demanding it be returned to her.

After signing a death certificate saying he had died of natural causes, she was then given three hours to agree to a "secret" funeral for her son.

If she didn't agree he would be buried within the grounds of the prison where he died, Ms Yarmysh said his mother was told.

However, Lyudmila had apparently refused to negotiate with the authorities.

Ms Yarmysh said the funeral plans were still not clear.

"We don't know whether the authorities will interfere with it being carried out in the way the family wants and as Alexei deserves," she said.