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‘Putin Is Responsible’ — World Leaders React To Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny’s Death
Eko Hot Blog reports that world leaders have reacted to the sudden death of jailed Russian opposition figure and outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, blaming the country’s leader, Vladimir Putin, for the development.
The Russian prison service disclosed Nalvany’s demise Friday afternoon.
The service said Navalny “felt unwell after a walk” and “almost immediately” lost consciousness. It said it was investigating his “sudden death.”
Navalny made global headlines when he was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020. The Russian opposition figure was sentenced to 19 years in prison in August.
He was already serving sentences of 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility on fraud and other charges he denied.
Reacting to Nalvany’s death, United States (US) President Joe Biden said he holds Putin responsible.
“Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” he said. “Putin does not only target citizens of other countries, as we’ve seen in what’s going on in Ukraine right now — he also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people,” the US president added.
US President Joe Biden
Navalny “bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence, and all the bad things that the Putin government was doing. In response, Putin had him poisoned, he had him arrested, he had him prosecuted for fabricated crimes,” Biden said.
“Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth,” he said.
On her part, US Vice President Kamala Harris described Nalvany’s demise as “terrible news” and said “Russia is responsible.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her speech during the opening of the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich, southern Germany on February 16, 2024. (Photo by THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images)
“We’ve all just received reports that Alexey Navalny has died in Russia. This is, of course, terrible news, which we are working to confirm,” Harris said in remarks at the Munich Security Conference, adding that her prayers are with his family.
“If confirmed, this would be a further sign of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutality. Whatever story they tell, let us be clear: Russia is responsible,” she said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, echoed the American president and vice president, telling reporters who were traveling with him in Munich, Germany, on Friday that “Russia is responsible for this.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel, venue for the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany on February 16, 2024. (Photo by THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images)
Although Blinken suggested the US was still working to confirm Navalny’s death, he made clear the US sees Russia as responsible for the opposition leader’s demise.
“For more than a decade, the Russian government — (Russian President Vladimir) Putin — prosecuted, poisoned and imprisoned Alexey Navalny, and now reports of his death. First and foremost, if these reports are accurate, our hearts go out to his wife and to his family.
“Beyond that, 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,” Blinken continued.
“Russia is responsible for this. We’ll be talking to many other countries concerned about Alexey Navalny, especially if these reports bear out to be true.”
Similarly, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the reported death of the Russian activist is a reminder of “what a monster Putin is”.
“He was such a strong fighter for democracy, for freedoms for the Russian people, it really shows the extent to which Putin has will crack down on anyone who is fighting for freedom, for the Russian people,” he said during a radio interview with CBC News in Winnipeg Friday afternoon.
“It is a tragedy and it’s something that has the entire world being reminded of exactly what a monster Putin is,” he went on.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the media in July 2023. Sean Gallup/Getty Images/FILE
“There is no question that Alexey Navalny is dead because he stood up to Putin, he stood up to the Kremlin, he stood for freedom and democracy and the right of the Russian people to choose their future and that was something that Putin was deeply afraid of,” said the prime minister.
He added that Canada and Western countries need to continue to stand up to Putin.
Likewise, European leaders paid tribute to Navalny and criticized Putin following reports of the jailed Russian opposition leader’s death on Friday.
President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said she was “deeply disturbed and saddened” by news of the death of Navalny.
“Putin fears nothing more than dissent from his own people,” she said on X, formerly Twitter.
“A grim reminder of what Putin and his regime are all about. Let’s unite in our fight to safeguard the freedom and safety of those who dare to stand up against autocracy.”
President of the European Council Charles Michel wrote in a post on X: “Alexey Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For the sake of his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice.”
“Fighters die. But the fight for freedom never ends,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Navalny “paid for his courage with his life.”
Scholz said that he was ”very sad” about reports of Navalny’s death, adding it was ”a terrible sign” of how Russia had changed in recent years.
British Foreign Secretary and Former Prime Minister David Cameron wrote in a post on X that “Putin should be accountable for what has happened – no one should doubt the dreadful nature of his regime.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was “very shocked” by the reports, adding that it “shows the unprecedented brutality of the Russian regime.”
Meanwhile, Alexey Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has urged the international community to fight against Putin’s “horrific” regime after her husband’s death on Friday.
Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, reacts as she speaks during the Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, Russia’s prison agency said. He was 47. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool Photo via AP)
She told delegates at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that she does not have confirmation about her husband’s death — only the reports via state media.
“I thought about it quite a while. I thought, ‘Should I stand here before you, or should I go back to my children?’ And then I thought: ‘What would Alexey have done in my place?’ And I’m sure he would have been standing here on this stage,” she said.
“I would like to call upon all the international community – all the people in the world. We should come together, and we should fight against this evil. We should fight this horrific regime in Russia today. This regime, and Vladimir Putin, should be personally held responsible for all the atrocities they have committed in our country.”
Navalnaya received a standing ovation for her address.
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting on the implementation of the high speed railway service linking Moscow with St. Petersburg construction project in the town Verkhnyaya Pyshma on February 15, 2024. (Photo by Alexander RYUMIN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER RYUMIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Notably, the exact circumstances of the opposition figure’s death are unknown, but world leaders have roundly cast the blame on the Russian President and his autocratic regime, to whom Navalny posed a huge political and symbolic threat.
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