Alexei Navalny, the fiercest foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin. who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in prison Friday, Russia’s federal penitentiary service said in a statement. He was 47.
The Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement that Navalny felt unwell after a walk on Friday and lost consciousness. An ambulance arrived to try to rehabilitate him, but he died.
"Navalny felt bad after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness. Medical staff arrived immediately and an ambulance team was called. Resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Paramedics confirmed the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established," the statement said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Putin was informed of Navalny's death and the prison service was looking into the death in line with standard procedures.
'Not informed about death'
The exiled team of Alexei Navalny said Friday it had no confirmation of his death and that a lawyer was headed to the Arctic prison colony, where Russia's penitentiary service said he died earlier.
"We have no confirmation on this yet," Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said on social media, adding that "Alexei's lawyer is currently on his way to Kharp (the Arctic town where Navalny's prison is). As soon as we have some information, we will report on it."
Navalny had been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption, organised major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office. He had since received three prison sentences, all of which he rejected as politically motivated.
A documentary called “Navalny” that detailed his career, his near-fatal poisoning, and his return to Moscow won an Academy Award for best documentary in March 2023.
“Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all: We must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head,” director David Roher said in accepting the Oscar.
Navalny’s wife also spoke at the award ceremony, saying: “My husband is in prison just for telling the truth. My husband is in prison just for defending democracy. Alexei, I am dreaming of the day you will be free and our country will be free. Stay strong, my love.”
Besides his wife, Navalny is survived by a son and a daughter.
Navalny, who was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism, was moved in December from his former prison in the Vladimir region of central Russia to a "special regime" penal colony—the highest security level of prisons in Russia—above the Artic Circle.
His allies decried the transfer to a colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, as yet another attempt to force Navalny into silence.
The remote region is notorious for long and severe winters. Kharp is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Vorkuta, whose coal mines were part of the Soviet gulag prison-camp system.
During his time behind bars, the 47-year-old appeared in grainy videos from makeshift court hearings, daring to slam Putin over his offensive in Ukraine. His message, relayed to fans through social media content, contrasted dramatically with that of Putin, a Soviet-styled, 71-year-old former KGB agent who has ruled for over 20 years.
"(Russia) is floundering in a pool of either mud or blood, with broken bones, with a poor and robbed population, and around it lie tens of thousands of people killed in the most stupid and senseless war of the 21st century," Navalny said in one statement.
'Brutally murdered'
Several European and world leaders have come down heavily on the Kremlin and President Putin after Russian authorities announced Navaly's death.
The European Union said Friday it held President Vladimir Putin's Russia solely responsible for the death in prison of exiled opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
"Alexei Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice," European Council President Charles Michel posted on X.
"The EU holds the Russian regime for sole responsible for this tragic death."
Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the death of Alexei Navalny in prison on Friday, saying the Russian opposition leader paid for his courage with his life.
Scholz recalled occasions when he had spoken with Navalny about the "great courage" that prompted him to return to Russia after recovering in Berlin from a poisoning attack. "He has now paid for this courage with his life," said Scholz.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday there were "serious questions" for the Kremlin to answer over the death of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
"I am deeply saddened and concerned about reports coming from Russia that Alexei Navalny is dead, all the facts have to be established and Russia has serious questions to answer," Stoltenberg told journalists.
The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is "terrible news" and a "huge tragedy" for the people of Russia, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday.
"As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life," Sunak said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that his "thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia."
Ukraine presidential aide Andriy Yermak on Friday said Russian leader Vladimir Putin is "afraid of any competition", in comments after the announcement of the death of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
"Putin is the ultimate evil who is afraid of any competition. The lives of Russians are nothing to him," Yermak wrote on Telegram, adding that "everyone who calls for negotiations must realise that he cannot be trusted. The only language he understands is force."
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics asserted that Navalny had been "brutally murdered by the Kremlin" and that it was the "true nature" of Russia's current regime.
"Whatever your thoughts about Alexei Navalny as the politician, he was just brutally murdered by the Kremlin. That's a fact and that is something one should know about the true nature of Russia's current regime."
President Rinkevics wrote on X , offering condolences to Navalny's relatives.
Russian rights campaigner Oleg Orlov said on Friday that opposition leader Alexei Navalny dying in prison was a "crime of the regime."
"It is a crime of the regime. It is glaringly obvious," Orlov said as he left a court in Moscow, where he was on trial for denouncing the Ukraine offensive. "It is a killing. It is a crime and I hope that people will bear responsibility—legal responsibility—sooner or later."
Opposition through grit and bravado
Navalny was born in Butyn, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside Moscow. He received a law degree from People's Friendship University in 1998 and did a fellowship at Yale in 2010.
In Putin's Russia, political opponents often faded amid factional disputes or went into exile after imprisonment, suspected poisonings, or other heavy repression.
But Navalny grew consistently stronger and reached the apex of the opposition through grit, bravado, and an acute understanding of how social media could circumvent the Kremlin's suffocation of independent news outlets. He faced each setback—whether it was a physical assault or imprisonment—with intense devotion, confronting dangers with a sardonic wit. That drove him to the bold and fateful move of returning from Germany to Russia and certain arrest.
He gained attention by focusing on corruption in Russia's murky mix of politicians and businesses; one of his early moves was to buy a stake in Russian oil and gas companies to become an activist shareholder and push for transparency.
By concentrating on corruption, Navalny's work had a pocketbook appeal to Russians' widespread sense of being cheated, and he carried stronger resonance than more abstract and philosophical concerns about democratic ideals and human rights.
He was convicted in 2013 of embezzlement in what he called a politically motivated prosecution and was sentenced to five years in prison, but the prosecutor's office later surprisingly demanded his release pending appeal. A higher court later gave him a suspended sentence.
The day before the sentence, Navalny had registered as a candidate for Moscow mayor. The opposition saw his release as the result of large protests in the capital of his sentence, but many observers attributed it to a desire by authorities to add a tinge of legitimacy to the mayoral election.
Navalny finished second, an impressive performance against the incumbent, who had the backing of Putin's political machine and was popular for improving the capital's infrastructure and aesthetics.
Navalny's popularity increased after the leading charismatic politician, Boris Nemtsov, was shot and killed in 2015 on a bridge near the Kremlin.
Whenever Putin spoke about Navalny, he made it a point to never mention the activist by name, referring to him as "that person" or similar wording, in an apparent effort to diminish his importance.
'I am not afraid'
In 2018, he had campaigned across the country to be president, published corruption investigations that embarrassed the Kremlin and rallied massive crowds onto Russia's streets.
His return to Russia in January 2021, despite facing jail, put him on a collision course with Putin, after Navalny blamed the poisoning attack in Siberia on the Kremlin.
"I'm not afraid and I call on you not to be afraid," he said in an appeal to supporters as he landed in Moscow, moments before being detained on charges linked to an old fraud conviction.
His arrest spurred some of the largest demonstrations Russia had seen in decades, and thousands were detained at rallies nationwide calling for his release.
Navalny's team countered Putin with the release of "Putin's Palace," an investigation into a lavish Black Sea mansion that his team claimed was gifted to Putin through corruption. The expose forced a rare denial from Putin, who quipped that, if his security services had really been behind the poisoning, they would have finished the job.
While Navalny trafficked confidently in memes, Putin is known both for not using the internet and asking a teenager who wanted him to follow his YouTube channel: "What should I sign?"
A similar Navalny corruption video targeting then prime minister Dmitry Medvedev spurred large demonstrations in 2017, with protesters carrying rubber ducks, which became a symbol of the protests.
Ahead of a presidential election in 2018, Navalny toured cities across the country to drum up support but was barred from running because of the old fraud charge.
"(Putin) fears me and he fears the people I represent," he told AFP at the time. Before that, he had challenged Sergei Sobyanin to become Moscow mayor and forced a runoff.
Far-right nationalism
At rallies and in courtrooms, Navalny was a convincing public speaker and rallied protesters around home-grown slogans like "the party of crooks and thieves" to slam the ruling United Russia party.
But he was been tainted by an early foray into far-right nationalism, and a pro-gun video from 2007 routinely resurfaced in which he compared people from the ex-Soviet South Caucasus region to cockroaches.
Navalny's nationalist past has garnered attention, particularly his involvement with groups such as "Russians" and "Russophobes."
He once advocated for policies like deporting migrants and limiting Central Asian influence, causing concern among liberal supporters.
However, Navalny has since expressed regrets for his previous nationalist stance, emphasising a shift towards broader anti-Kremlin activism.
Despite this evolution, his nationalist affiliations remain a topic of discussion, though they have been perceived as less influential to his political trajectory in recent years.
Navalny also remains a fringe figure for a large portion of Russian society, which backs the Kremlin's official portrayal of him as a Western stooge and convicted criminal.
He had become such a thorn in the Kremlin's side that Putin refused to pronounce his name in public. His anti-corruption group was shuttered and his top allies are either imprisoned or in exile.
'Cannot shut my mouth'
Navalny's team said he had been harassed in prison and repeatedly moved to a punitive solitary confinement cell.
He said guards had subjected him and other inmates to "torture by Putin," making them listen to the president's speeches.
Still, Navalny was upbeat and sardonic on social media accounts curated by aides, even despite his conditions.
The lawyer, by training, had fought for basic rights and taken prison officials to court. He had also tormented them, filing formal requests for a kimono and a balalaika—a traditional musical instrument—and to be allowed to keep a kangaroo.
"You cannot shut my mouth," he declared.
(With inputs from AFP and AP)
