European Union international ministers in Brussels supplied sturdy public backing to the exiled widow of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, vowing further sanctions in opposition to Moscow to carry it answerable for the demise of her husband in a distant Arctic jail.
”The EU will spare no efforts to carry Russia’s political management and authorities to account, in shut coordination with our companions; and impose additional prices for his or her actions, together with by way of sanctions,” the EU’s high diplomats stated in a joint assertion following their assembly with Yulia Navalnaya on February 19.
Navalnaya, who has turn out to be a vocal Kremlin critic in her personal proper over latest years, vowed to ”proceed our combat for our nation” as she traveled to Brussels to hunt backing from the 27-member bloc, whose leaders have expressed outrage over Navalny’s demise in custody final week and Russian authorities’ refusal to permit his mom and attorneys to see his physique.
”Three days in the past, Vladimir Putin killed my husband, Aleksei Navalny,” Yulia Navalnaya stated in a two-minute video publish on X, previously Twitter.
Navalnaya, who together with their two youngsters lives overseas, was already in Munich for a serious worldwide safety convention when experiences emerged on February 16 that Navalny had died at a harsh Arctic jail generally known as Polar Wolf, the place he was serving a 19-year sentence for alleged extremism that Navalny and Kremlin critics say was heaped atop different convictions to punish him for his anti-corruption and political actions.
”I’ll proceed the work of Aleksei Navalny,” Navalnaya stated. ”Proceed to combat for our nation. And I invite you to face beside me.”
She known as for supporters to battle the Kremlin with ”extra fury than ever earlier than” and stated she longed to reside in ”a free Russia.”
EU international affairs chief Josep Borrell emerged from that assembly expressing ”the EU’s deepest condolences” and confidence that Russian President ”Vladimir Putin & his regime might be held accountable for the demise of [Aleksei Navalny].”
”As [Navalnaya] stated, Putin just isn’t Russia. Russia just isn’t Putin,” Borrell stated, including that the bloc’s assist is assured ”to Russia’s civil society & unbiased media.”
An ally of Navalny, Ivan Zhdanov, stated in a publish on Telegram that an investigator had said that checks on Navalny’s physique will take 14 days to finish.
Lithuanian International Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis insisted earlier that the EU should ”at the very least” sharpen sanctions in opposition to Russia following Navalny’s demise.
The EU has already handed 12 rounds of Russian sanctions and is engaged on a thirteenth with the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaching later this week, with member Germany urgent for extra.
German International Minister Annalena Baerbock had stated Berlin would suggest new sanctions on Moscow on the assembly with Navalnaya, however the end result remained unclear.
The German International Workplace stated it was summoning the Russian ambassador over Navalny’s demise to ”condemn this within the strongest doable phrases and expressly name for the discharge of all these imprisoned in Russia for political causes.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s workplace known as individually for clarification on the circumstances and for Russian authorities to launch Navalny’s physique to the household.
The Kremlin — which for years averted point out of Navalny by identify — broke its official silence on February 19 by saying an investigation was ongoing and could be carried out in response to Russian legislation. It stated the query of when his physique could be handed over was not for the Kremlin to resolve.
It known as Western outcry over the February 16 announcement of Navalny’s demise ”completely unacceptable.”
The Latvia-based Novaya Gazeta Europe stated on February 18 that police had been securing a neighborhood morgue within the Siberian metropolis of Salekhard as hypothesis swirled across the location of the 47-year-old Navalny’s physique and whether or not it confirmed indicators of abuse.
Navalny is the most recent on a big checklist of Putin foes who’ve ended up useless underneath suspicious circumstances overseas or at residence, the place the Kremlin has clamped down ruthlessly on dissent and free speech for the reason that Ukraine invasion started.
Political analyst Yekaterina Shulman instructed Present Time that Navalny ”possessed incomparable ethical capital” in Russia but in addition properly past its borders.
”He possessed fame — all Russian and worldwide,” Shulman stated. ”He had ethical authority [and] he had a protracted political biography. These are all issues that can’t be handed all the way down to anybody and can’t be acquired rapidly.”
She cited Navalny’s essential credibility and ”political capital” constructed up by way of years of investigations of corruption, campaigning for elections, and organizing politically.
”Maybe this obvious political assassination will turn out to be a rallying level not for the opposition — the opposition is individuals who run for workplace to accumulate mandates [and] we aren’t in that state of affairs — however for the anti-war group…inside Russia,” Shulman stated.
Navalny’s household and shut associates have confirmed his demise in jail and have demanded his physique be handed over, however authorities have refused to launch it pending an investigation.
Mediazona and Novaya.gazeta Europe stated Navalny’s physique was being held on the district morgue in Salekhard, though officers reportedly instructed Navalny’s mom in any other case after she traveled to the distant jail on February 17 and was denied entry.
A former spokeswoman for Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, claimed Navalny’s mom had been turned away once more early on February 19.
Yarmysh tweeted that Russia’s federal Investigative Committee had instructed his mom and attorneys that ”the investigation into Navalny’s demise had been prolonged. How for much longer she is going to go is unknown. The reason for demise continues to be ’undetermined.'”
”They lie, stall for time, and do not even cover it,” she added.
The OVD-Information human rights group web site confirmed greater than 57,000 signatories demanding that the Investigative Committee return Navalny’s physique to his household.
WATCH: Courtroom paperwork examined by RFE/RL reveal that medical care was repeatedly denied to inmates on the jail the place Aleksei Navalny was held. In a single case, this resulted within the demise of an inmate. The revelation comes amid questions over how Navalny died and as his physique has nonetheless not been handed over to his household.
The group famous {that a} procedural evaluate course of may permit authorities to maintain the physique for at the very least 30 days, or longer if a prison case was opened.
Because the announcement of his demise on February 16, Russian police have cordoned off memorial websites the place individuals had been laying flowers and candles to honor Navalny, and dispersed and arrested greater than 430 suspected violators in dozens of places.
Intently watched by police, mourners on February 19 continued to go away flowers at tributes in Moscow to honor Navalny. Preliminary experiences prompt police within the capital didn’t intervene within the newest actions.
The Western response has been to sentence Putin and his administration, with U.S. President Joe Biden saying there’s ”little doubt” that Putin is guilty for Navalny’s demise.
The British and U.S. ambassadors laid tributes over the weekend on the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to repression that has emerged as a website to honor Navalny.
U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy stated she was honoring ”Navalny and different victims of political repression in Russia,” including, ”His energy is an inspiring instance. We honor his reminiscence.”
The French ambassador additionally visited one of many memorials.
With reporting by Reuters