Navalny’s widow Yulia announces intention to run for president of Russia

She made the announcement in an interview with the BBC.
 

Presenting her husband's memoirs Patriot, which he wrote before his death, Yulia Navalnaya confirmed her plans, saying that when the time comes, she will “participate in the elections… as a candidate.”
 

According to her, this decision is unequivocal, as she wants to continue her husband’s “fight for democracy” in the country.
 

Navalnaya noted that she is aware of the risks associated with returning to Russia, where she faces arrest on charges of extremism. She emphasized that she would return home only after Vladimir Putin leaves office.
 

“My political opponent is Vladimir Putin. And I will do everything to make his regime fall as soon as possible,” she emphasized.

Navalny's death: what is known

On February 16, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation announced the death of 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 Putin for it. In Russia, people were not allowed to lay flowers in memory of the oppositionist. 

Navalny's relatives were denied permission to see his body or take it for burial. Prior to this, the Russian exile newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Europe reported that Alexei Navalny's body was allegedly covered with bruises, which could have resulted either from beatings or convulsions caused by poisoning.

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 in 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, over 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 increase 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 a number of European countries summoned Russian ambassadors to the carpet over Navalny's death.
 

On February 20, it was reported that Putin promoted the Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, Boyarynev, to the rank of colonel general following Navalny's death in the colony.
 

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin would not conduct an independent international investigation into the oppositionist's death. He also called the words of Navalny's wife regarding Putin's involvement in his death “boorish” 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 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.

The founder of the human rights group Gulagu.net, Vladimir Osechkin, suggested that the opposition Russian politician could have been killed by a punch to the heart, before weakening his body by prolonged exposure to cold.