Ukraine's triumph to be fitting tribute to Navalny — NATO Secretary General

He said this in an interview with Radio Liberty.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the aid was partly aimed at preventing further gains by Russia, but also at ensuring Ukraine's capability to liberate more territory. He expressed a deep belief that honoring the memory of Alexei Navalny involves ensuring President Putin's defeat on the battlefield, with Ukraine emerging victorious.

He also mentioned the aid packages recently provided by Sweden and Canada, as well as security assurances worth "billions of dollars of additional support," agreements that Ukraine has signed with Germany and France.

Navalny's death: what is known

On Friday, February 16, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation announced the death of the imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

On the same day, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of European cities to express their outrage over Navalny's death, blaming it on Putin. In Russia, they were not allowed to lay flowers in memory of the oppositionist.

Navalny's relatives were refused to show or give his body to him. Before that, the Russian exile newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Europe reported that Alexei Navalny's body was allegedly covered with bruises. This could be either due to beatings or convulsions caused by the poison effect.

Citing its own sources in Russia's Investigative Committee and Navalny's entourage, the Russian opposition outlet Sota reported that he died of gradual poisoning by small doses.

The head of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, said that the death of the Russian opposition leader should prompt German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, while Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called for Russia to be declared a state sponsor of terrorism.

As of February 19, more than 400 activists were detained in 32 Russian cities after the death of Putin's opponent during flower-laying events.

The Lithuanian and German foreign ministers said that after Navalny's death, the EU should at least strengthen sanctions against Russia. EU Diplomacy Chief Josep Borrell said that EU members would propose a new package against the Kremlin.

On Monday and Tuesday, February 19-20, the foreign ministries of numerous European countries summoned Russian ambassadors to the carpet over Navalny's death.

On February 20, it became known that Putin had promoted Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Boyarynev to colonel general after Navalny died in the colony.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin would not conduct an independent international investigation into the opposition leader's death. He also called the words of Navalny's wife about Putin's involvement in his death "rude" and "unfounded." Navalnaya said that she did not care about his comments and the only thing she wanted was for Navalny's body to be returned. Later, it became known that Yulia's page on social network X was blocked because it allegedly violated the platform's rules. Navalny's mother, Lyudmila, also publicly asked for the return of her son's body.