The widow of longtime Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, who died in prison Friday at the age of 47, plans to take up his mantle.
Yulia Navalnaya shared a video Monday to her deceased husband’s YouTube channel in which she announced her intentions and vowed to “continue the work of Aleksei Navalny, and continue to fight for our country.”
“I call on you to stand beside me, to share not only in the grief and endless pain that has enveloped us and won’t let go,” she says in the statement, which is nearly nine minutes long. “I [also] ask you to share my rage – to share my rage, anger and hatred of those who have dared to kill our future.”
She added that the best way to honor Navalny’s legacy, in her estimation, is “to fight more desperately and furiously than before.”
Her late husband’s considerable work toward eradicating corruption in Russia included a 2018 bid for the presidency; a longtime seat on the Russian Opposition Coordination Council, a cohort of Russian protesters; leading the Russia of the Future party, an unregistered political opposition party; and founding the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a nonprofit investigating backdoor dealings among Russia’s higher ranks. The latter group was disbanded by the Russian government in 2021, with officials declaring it an extremist organization.
His death – which the Russian government announced while offering few details about the cause – came while Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence for charges of fraud, extremism and violating probation. He was in solitary confinement at the time – his 27th stint in isolation. Russian activists and foreign leaders alike spoke out about his passing, including U.S. President Joe Biden. “Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” he said.
Navalnaya is also among those who blame Putin directly. “In killing Aleksei, Putin killed half of me – half of my heart and half of my soul,” Navalnaya said of her husband’s death in her statement. “But I have another half left, and it is telling me I have no right to give up.”
It’s fiery rhetoric from Navalnaya, especially given how she had previously demurred when asked about plans to get involved in political work. “I don’t think this is an idea I want to play with,” she told a German magazine once, when asked.
But now, she’s ready to join in the fray – no matter what it takes. “I know it feels impossible to do any more, but we have to,” she told viewers of her video. We have to “come together in one strong fist and strike with it at this maddened regime, at Putin, at his friends and his bandits in uniform, at these thieves and killers who have crippled our country.”
