"Threatens" Yulia Navalnaya: Putin will not be saved if my husband's death is confirmed

2024-02-16 17:57:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

"Threatens" Yulia Navalnaya: Putin will not be saved if my

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates will not get away with impunity if the reported death of Alexei Navalny is confirmed, Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of the vocal Kremlin critic, said on Friday.

Yulia Navalnaya called on the international community to fight the "terrible regime" in Russia together, speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

"I don't know if we should believe the terrible news. We cannot trust Putin and his Government. But if this is true, I would like Putin and all his staff, everyone around him, his Government and his friends, to know that they will be punished for what they have done to our country, with my family and with my husband," Yulia Navalnaya said of reports of her husband's death in a Russian prison.

A local department of Russia's Federal Prison Service said Friday at noon that Navalny had died in prison. "All measures to bring him back to life were taken, but they did not produce positive results. The ambulance doctors pronounced the prisoner dead. The cause of death is being determined," the Russian Service said in a statement, which could not be independently confirmed.

Russian state-controlled media also cited the statement, reporting that Navalny, 47, had died.

State media, TASS, quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on reports of Navalny's death and that he had no information on the cause of his death.

But Navalny's press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Kremlin critic's team has no confirmation of his death.

"Federal Prison Service in Yamalo-Nenets region is spreading news about the death of Alexei Navalny in prison IK-3. We still do not have confirmation of this news. Navalny's lawyer will go there and as soon as we have information, we will to announce," she wrote. Reports of Navalny's death have prompted outrage and condemnation from world leaders who have said the Kremlin critic has paid the "highest price" for his courage to speak out against the country's leadership.

Navalny, a vocal critic of Putin, has been held in a Russian prison since 2021 on charges that many have described as politically motivated.

In August, Navalny was found guilty of founding and financing an extremist organization, which he has always denied, and was sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison.

He had already been sentenced to nine years in prison for breach of parole, fraud and contempt of court./ Rel