Alexei Navalny’s Death Has Ignited Anger And Big Discussions From Global Leaders

A spokesperson for Putin activist Alexei Navalny confirmed his death on Saturday February 17, after Russian media reported his demise on Friday, citing the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where he was detained.

On Saturday, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a Google-deciphered post on the X social media platform, that Navalny’s mom had gotten an official notice of his demise.

After Russian media reported Alexei Navalny’s death on Friday, citing the prison service in the Yamalo-Nenets region, a spokesperson for the Putin dissident confirmed his death on Saturday.

Navalny’s group at the time said they couldn’t prove the activist’s passing.

“His death occurred on February 16 at 2:17 p.m. local time, according to the official message to Alexey’s mother. An employee of the colony said that the body of Navalny is now in Salekhard,” Yarmysh said, citing that the body of Navalny had been collected by the Investigative Committee of Russia for further investigation.

“An employee of the colony said that the body of Navalny is now in Salekhard,” he added. In a post that was Google-translated on Friday, the IC stated on Telegram that it is organizing a procedural investigation into Navalny’s death.

“We demand that Alexey Navalny’s body be handed over to his family immediately,” Yarmysh said Saturday.

The death of Navalny occurs less than a month before the upcoming presidential elections, which are widely believed to provide President Vladimir Putin with yet another mandate to lead the nation. Opposition leader Navalny had been carrying out a 19-year punishment on charges of radicalism in Russia since 2021, in the wake of recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning.

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His passing has ignited a tsunami of consternation from global leaders and high-profile figures, some of who scrutinized Putin’s role in the occurrence. The death of Navalny and Moscow’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which will mark its second year later this month, have dominated discussions this weekend at the Munich Security Conference.

“Putin kills whoever he wants, be it an opposition leader or anyone who seems a target to him,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday at the MSC, accusing Putin of holding onto power “through corruption and violence” and stating that the death of Navalny sends a clear message to those gathered at the conference.

In excess of 200 people were detained in Russia during rallies recalling Navalny that occurred Friday and Saturday, a spokesperson for Russian human rights group OVD-data said. Of this count, more than 27 people were from Moscow and 108 from St. Petersburg.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said that the Western reaction to Navalny’s reported death is “self-exposing,” given that no forensic medical examination has been made available at the time. The Kremlin has previously denied any involvement in Navalny’s poisoning and has pledged to investigate his death.

In a second Google-translated X update, Yarmysh said that Navalny’s mother and lawyer attempted to visit the morgue, which was closed.