The death in prison of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, reported this Friday by the Russian penitentiary, caused outrage and a strong impact on the first day of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), an annual debate forum for heads of government and ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of various countries, as a reminder that Vladimir Putin multiplies signs of feeling safe and powerful. Various leaders directly accused him of his death.
Amid the condemnations and warnings about the consequences of notable participants – including the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris – the intervention on the stand by the wife of Navalni, Yulia Navalnaya, intervention that was not on the agenda.
“For many years we cannot believe Putin or his Government; They lie constantly. But if this is true, I want to tell Putin and his friends, all of his staff, all of his entourage, all of his government, that they will not go unpunished; I would like them to know that they will be punished for what they have done to our country, to my family and to my husband. They will be brought to justice and that day will come soon,” said Yulia Navalnaya, who spoke in Russian as her words were translated into English by an interpreter.
Before an audience of diplomats and rulers, who after her brief speech showered her with applause, Navalni’s wife called on the international community to unite and fight against the “horrible regime” in Russia. “I was wondering if I should stay here in front of you or if I should go back to my children and I wondered what Alexei would have done in my place, and I am sure that he would have been here in this scenario,” said Yulia Navalnaya. The couple married in 2000 and had a daughter, Daria, now 23, and a son, Zahar, 15.
At the Munich conference, which started this Friday and continues until Monday with 180 leaders, ministers and representatives from a hundred countries, US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke forceful words on the matter. Harris, who was attending this event in the Bavarian capital for the third consecutive year, said that, if Alexei Navalny’s death was confirmed, “it would be another sign of the brutality of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy, accused the Russian president in a joint statement issued in Munich: “Alexéi Navalni was slowly murdered by President Putin and his regime, which did nothing “They fear more than the dissent of their own people.” Von der Leyen and Borrell recalled how they had repeatedly demanded security and health guarantees from Russia for Navalny in the face of “repeated mistreatment, unjustified and illegal disciplinary measures, and harassment equivalent to physical and psychological torture by the prison authorities.” and they assured that they will spare no effort to ensure that those responsible are punished.
More diplomatic but also firm was NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who told journalists in an aside at the beginning of the Munich conference that Moscow “has very serious questions to answer about the circumstances of this death.”
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Berlin this Friday at noon to sign a bilateral security agreement with Germany, said he had no doubts about the death. “I regret the death of Navalny in a Russian prison. For me it is obvious that he was murdered,” he stated at a press conference with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. The chancellor was less specific: “I met Navalny here in Berlin when he was recovering from the poisoning attack and spoke with him about his great courage to return to his country. And probably now he has paid for this courage with his life.”
