Alexei Navalny death latest: Putin promotes prison official accused of torturing opposition leader

The appeal of Alexei Navalny’s wife to continue the fight of her dead husband has rejuvenated a Russian dissident community still mourning the loss of its figurehead, a friend of the Navalny family has told The Independent.

On Monday, in a nine-minute video message laced with rage, Yulia Navalnaya, 47, said she would continue the fight of her husband for a “free Russia” and called on supporters to oppose President Vladimir Putin with greater fury than ever.

Grigori Chkhartishvili, the Russian-Georgian novelist who earlier this month was charged by a Moscow court in absentia for “justifying terrorism, said Yulia’s message was encouraging.

“Many were in despair after Alexei’s death, the prevailing mood was ‘there is no hope now’,” he said. “Yulia’s appeal changed the tide completely. Now everyone is full of hope and energy again.

“If she really goes into politics it might make a big difference. It would mean that killing Alexei  would prove to be Putin’s mistake.”

He added: “Yulia has two potential capabilities. She is the only figure who can unite the divided opposition factions. And what’s even more important she appeals– on personal level – to many Russians who are now politically indifferent. Because she is attractive, emotional, because she is a woman, and because her story is powerful.

“We’ll see soon whether her declaration was made on the spur of the moment or whether it was in earnest. I hope it is the latter.”

A jailed Russian opposition politician has expressed his anger over the death of Alexei Navalny, having found out only yesterday.

Ilya Yashin was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in December 2022 for spreading false information meant to discredit the Russian army, under a law introduced after Russia launched its invasion.

His arrest came after statements he made on his YouTube channel about war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

Mr Yashin wrote on X: “News comes slowly to the camp barracks, and I only learned about the death of Alexei Navalny yesterday. It’s hard to convey my shock. It’s hard to gather your thoughts. The pain and horror are unbearable.

“Alexey Navalny was my friend. So does Boris Nemtsov. We did a common cause and dedicated our lives to making Russia peaceful, free and happy. Now both my friends are dead. I feel a black emptiness inside. And, of course, I understand my own risks. I’m behind bars, my life is in Putin’s hands, and it’s in danger. But I will continue to stick to my line.

“Standing over Boris’s body in February 2015, I vowed to myself not to be afraid, not to give up and not to run. Nine years later, mourning Alexei, I can only repeat this oath.”

Vladimir Putin has awarded a prison minister responsible for depriving Alexei Navalny of food during his latest incarceration with the military rank of Colonel General.

First deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service Valery Boyarinev was awarded the rank on Monday, just three days after Mr Navalny was killed.

Ivan Zhdanov, director of Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption foundation, reposted an image of the order issued by Boyarinev in March 2023 to IK-6 of the Vladimir region to limit the amount with which the Russian opposition figure could buy food in custody.

Vladimir Osechkin, who founded the “No to Gulag” project, has claimed that Boyarinev oversaw the torture of Ukrainian prisoners and Navalny in the Russian prison system.

For a decade and more, he and his team deployed a mix of tenacity and mockery to probe the Mafia-style financial links between those at the top of Russian politics, security and business, writes John Kampfner.

Frozen out of state-controlled mainstream media, Navalny used every digital platform and every social media channel available to shine a light on Putin’s corrupt regime, surviving multiple poisonings and incarceration until he was finally – and inevitably – silenced by his greatest foe.

Foreign secretary Lord Cameron said he expected the UK and G7 allies to impose fresh sanctions on Russians involved in Alexei Navalny’s death.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to the Falkland Islands, Lord Cameron said: “I think the first thing is just to remember what a great man Alexei Navalny was, and what an appalling regime Putin runs in Russia.

“And yes, there will be consequences. What we do in these situations is we look at how someone’s human rights have been damaged and the individual people that caused that, and we’re able to go after those people with particular measures.

“Now we never pre-announce sanctions in advance, I can’t do that.

“But what I can tell you is at the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Munich, I pressed that the United Kingdom will be doing that and I urged other countries to do the same. And I believe very much that both those things will happen.”

France will summon the Russian ambassador to Paris following the death of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, reported Le Monde newspaper, citing comments made by French foreign minister Stephane Sejourne during a trip in Argentina.

“I have asked to summon the Russian ambassador today at 1830,” Mr Sejourne said, according to Le Monde.

On Monday, Germany had also summoned Russia’s ambassador in Berlin over the death of Navalny.

Alexei Navalny’s ally Ivan Zhdanov denounced the Russian authorities as “lackeys and liars” as he lashed out at them for the delay in handing over the Putin critic’s body.

“It’s clear what they are doing now – covering up the traces of their crime,” he wrote on Monday.

Since Navalny’s death, nearly 400 people have been detained by police in Russia as they streamed to ad-hoc memorials and monuments to victims of political repression with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Navalny, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests.

The US and British ambassadors also mourned Navalny’s death at a memorial in Moscow.