"Make no mistake - Putin is responsible for his death. Putin is responsible". Asserted POTUS
Putin's most prominent opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, has been imprisoned since 2021 in a maximum security prison in the far north part of the Russian Arctic Circle.
According to the statement made by the prison, "Navalny felt unwell after a walk almost immediately losing consciousness. An ambulance team was called, resuscitation measures were carried out, and ambulance doctors stated the death", "The causes of death are being established".
Navalny's Chief of Staff responded to the statement by saying it amounted to a confession by the Russian authorities without, however, confirming the claim.
But who was Alexey Navalny?
He made a name for himself as an anti-corruption campaigner who was big on social media, attempting mainly on YouTube and X- to investigate and uncover cases of corruption by President Putin. A noteworthy example is one of his most popular videos of an investigation into a billion-dollar palace he said belonged to Putin.
Navalny got into politics and led massive anti-government street protests.
“There is just one goal. To make Russia a normal, rich country where citizens profit, in some way, from the richness of their country, that’s why we are fighting this regime,” said Navalny in 2017”.
He ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013 and, in 2016, announced he was running for the 2018 presidential election. However, he was banned from doing so because of what his supporters said were politically-motivated criminal charges.
In 2020 Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, falling sick during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, and spending months recovering in Germany.
They tried to kill me, and I survived, he claimed on video in 2021, blaming the Kremlin, which denied the allegations.
On his return to Russia he was immediately arrested and had been imprisoned ever since.
President Biden claimed he was “prisoned for fabricated crimes”
In the TV documentary “Navalny”, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature of 2023, Navalny firmly accuses the Kremlin of his poisoning and leaves a message to the viewer for the case of a successful attempt on his life.
He explicitly says: If they decided to kill me, don't give up. if they do it, it means we are incredibly strong and calls for supporters to utilize that power against Putin and the government.
However, on a more controversial aspect, Navalny was not seen by everyone as the person the TV documentary tries to depict. The freedom fighter who aspired to save the Russian people from oppression and tyranny was openly in alliance with far-right, imperialist Russian beliefs.
When Russia attacked Georgia in 2008 he publicly supported the invasion.
He has claimed that Ukrainians are the same nation as Russians, promoted the view of Russian domination and the idea of Crimea remaining under Russian control as well as criticized the 1954 transfer of Crimea to Ukraine in the first place.
He is also known for his history of racist and xenophobic comments, including using an ethnic slur against Ukrainians and making derogatory statements about other peoples, like Georgians, calling them “rodents.”
It is most apparent that Navalny was prominently anti-Putin and sought change in Russia but being anti Putin does not negate Navalny’s imperialist and chauvinist views.
“Was Navalny anti-Putin? Yes. Was he wrongfully imprisoned by the Kremlin for this? Absolutely. Is he anti-war? He says so. But does he reject the colonial approach and idea of Russian superiority/dominance over other nations? Definitely not. And this is something to keep in mind”, tweeted journalist Ostar Yarysh.