2024-03-07 01:57:15
Navalny’s widow is calling for protests in the Russian presidential election
Updated March 6, 2024 – 4:08 p.mReading time: 2 min.
She had promised to take up her husband’s inheritance and continue his fight. Now Alexei Navalny’s widow is calling on Russians to demonstrate against Putin.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, is calling for a nationwide protest for the presidential election in Russia on March 17th. In a YouTube video published on Wednesday, she also asked those entitled to vote to vote against incumbent Vladimir Putin or to cast an invalid vote. Navalnaya, who lives in exile, said she drew hope from the large crowd that came to her husband’s funeral in Moscow last Friday.
Navalny, Russia’s most popular opposition politician and harshest Putin critic, died in the “Polar Wolf” prison camp in Siberia on February 16. It is certain that Putin will be confirmed in office in the election from March 15th to 17th and will therefore be able to remain Russian president until at least 2030.
Navalnaya called on Russians to support the nationwide protest announced by her husband before his death for midday on March 17. “We have to use election day to show that we exist and that there are many of us,” Navalnaya said.
After her husband’s death, Navalnaya announced that she would continue her husband’s fight. To this end, she met with US President Joe Biden, took part in the Munich Security Conference and spoke in the European Parliament. She accuses Putin of being responsible for Navalny’s death. Western governments also support the thesis.
The Russian leadership denies involvement and emphasizes that investigations have shown that the 47-year-old died of natural causes. Navalny was sentenced to prison terms totaling more than 30 years. The allegations ranged from fraud to extremism. He has always denied the allegations and described them as politically motivated.