Alexei Navalny Dies in Russian Custody

Delving into the Russian opposition leader’s death and aftermath.

Image c/o Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters

By Anthony Romero
News Reporter

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Prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was announced dead on February 16th by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service and was confirmed by Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh. Having spent more than a decade in prison, Navalny was being held at an IK-3 penal colony in the arctic town of Kharp, 2,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow, while serving a 19-year jail sentence on charges of political extremism. According to reports from penitentiary staff, Navalny had gone on a walk before suddenly falling ill and losing consciousness shortly after. Despite efforts from medical services, Navalny did not survive the ordeal and his body has only just now been returned to his family on February 24th. The international community has heavily scrutinized the circumstances surrounding Navalny’s sudden death, as questions have been raised about the extent of President Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the elimination of his political enemy.

Navalny has been no stranger to run-ins with the Russian government. A former real estate lawyer, Navalny first delved into politics in 2008 as an anti-corruption activist working on a blog exposing allegations of malpractice and abuse from major corporations run by the Russian state. Navalny’s efforts against Putin’s regime soon gained traction on social media sites like Twitter (now known as X) and Russia’s Facebook equivalent, Vkontakte. He first gained prominence by outright claiming that Putin and his allies were a group of “crooks and thieves,” running a patron system that stole from the nation and its people while enriching themselves. Navalny used his newfound popularity among the Russian middle class to establish the RosPil lawyer group and the Foundation for Fighting Corruption to continue putting pressure on the political elite. In 2011, Navalny led a series of street demonstrations against Putin’s third presidential term, cementing himself as the voice of a modern movement. This outspoken position, while bringing new life to the Russian opposition, would also bring Navalny a lot of strife. 

The first inklings of political retaliation came in July 2013 when the Russian government sentenced Navalny to a 5-year suspended term related to charges of embezzlement during his early days as an advisor to the local governor of the Kirov region. This was followed by the Yves Rocher case in 2014, in which Navalny and his brother were found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 3 and a half years. The most infamous attempt on Navalny’s life occurred on August 20th, 2020 during a flight from Siberia, when Navalny fell violently ill before going into a coma. After an emergency transfer from Russia to Berlin, German doctors identified traces of the Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok in his body. The poison was planted in Navalny’s underwear with medical staff stated if it were not for the plane’s emergency landing, he most likely would not have survived. It was this and other attempts to kill or poison Navalny, as well as Russia’s sordid history of eliminating political opponents, that drew suspicion upon Navalny’s actual death.

Navalny’s death has left the Russian opposition movement without its most visible leader, casting a shadow on any hope for pushing back against President Putin’s rule. On February 23rd, U.S. President Joe Biden mobilized over 500 sanctions targeting Russian entities, the military-industrial network, and various financial institutions, including 3 officials directly involved with Navalny’s imprisonment. These mark the most extensive package of sanctions since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he [Putin] will keep going. And the costs to the United States − along with our NATO Allies and partners in Europe and worldwide − will rise,” announced President Biden. The POTUS described Navalny as a voice of truth and a powerful force against the corruption of the Russian establishment. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin, during a conference in Munich, also made a statement regarding Navalny’s fate: “His death in a Russian prison and the fixation and fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built. Russia is responsible for this.”

As of now, Navalny’s spokeswoman has confirmed that his body has been returned to his mother Lyudmila. Navalny’s mother was reportedly told to agree to a secret burial as criteria for his return, or else he would be buried in the arctic prison grounds where he died. Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya previously accused President Putin of holding her husband’s body “hostage” and maintained that the Russian president had Navalny killed. At the Munich Security Conference, Yulia at first doubted whether Russia was telling the truth about Navalny’s death, but proclaimed, “But if this is true, I want Putin, his entire entourage, Putin’s friends, his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband.” Despite international condemnation, the Russian government has continued to deny responsibility and called the international outcry hysterical. 

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