“I want Putin in the same conditions as my husband”: Alexei Navalny’s wife

“I want Putin in the same conditions as my husband”: Alexei Navalny’s wife

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, announced her intention to become President of Russia after the end of President Vladimir Putin’s regime. In an interview with the BBC, Navalnaya expressed her determination to continue her husband’s fight for democracy. “I will participate in the elections… as a candidate. My political opponent is Vladimir Putin. “I will do everything in my power to overthrow his regime as quickly as possible.”

However, for now, her battle in exile continues, as her return to Russia could lead to her being arrested on extremism charges. She told the BBC that she could not return as long as Putin remained in power.

Alexei Navalny died under suspicious circumstances in a penal colony after being sentenced to 19 years in prison on “politically motivated” charges. His quest to expose government corruption, especially through his anti-corruption foundation, has made him Putin’s most outspoken critic. While Russia denied its involvement in the death of Alexei Navalny, US President Joe Biden expressed his certainty of Putin’s responsibility.

Since her husband’s death, Yulia Navalnaya said their shared political beliefs and decisions have affected their two children, Dasha, 23, and Zakhar, 16. “I realize they had no say in this,” she said.

Navalny’s family was united in their determination to challenge Putin’s grip on power, despite knowing the risks. In 2021, after surviving poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent, Alexei Navalny returned to Russia, where he was arrested. In her interview with the BBC, Yulia mentioned the extent of her husband’s suffering in prison, including spending 295 days in solitary confinement. “The usual practice is usually only two weeks of banishment, which is the most severe punishment. My husband spent almost a year there,” she said.

Navalnaya criticized the international community’s response to her husband’s death, calling the sanctions imposed on Russian officials a “joke” and urging world leaders to be “less afraid” of Putin. She expressed her personal desire to see the Russian president face justice, saying: “I want him to be in a Russian prison.” Not only that, I want him to be in the same circumstances that Alexei was in.

Yulia Navalnaya now heads the Anti-Corruption Foundation, where she plans to publish more evidence implicating Putin’s regime.

Alexei Navalny began writing his memoirs, “Patriot,” while recovering in the German countryside after being poisoned with Novichok. Upon his return to Russia and subsequent imprisonment, he continued to document his thoughts and experiences through notebooks, social media posts and prison memoirs, many of which are being published for the first time.

Navalny stated that prison officials confiscated some of his writings. “Patriot” is both enlightening and harrowing—knowing the tragic outcome of Alexei Navalny’s story makes his accounts of abuse and resistance all the more resonant.

Yulia recounts her final conversations with her husband, in which they both admitted the possibility that he would never get out of prison alive. “I never let my mind think that he might be killed,” she said. But Alexei’s sense of humor and laughter remained intact until the end, a trait Yulia calls his “superpower.”

He really made fun of this regime and Vladimir Putin. “That’s why Vladimir Putin hated him so much,” she said.

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