LONDON (Reuters) – The widow of Alexander Litvinenko, Marina Litvinenko, urged Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Alexei Navalny, to continue speaking out in order to keep her husband’s message alive, following the death of the well-known Kremlin critic.
Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, became unconscious and passed away on Friday after a stroll at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony where he was serving a lengthy prison sentence.
Shortly after the news broke, Yulia Navalnaya addressed leaders at a Western security conference in Munich, directly blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for her husband’s death and demanding that Putin and his administration be held responsible.
“Yulia Navalnaya did the right thing because her husband Alexei was well-known in Russia and abroad, and she now needs to continue being his voice,” Marina Litvinenko told Reuters.
Marina Litvinenko’s husband, Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer and defector who became a vocal critic of the Kremlin, died in 2006 three weeks after consuming green tea laced with polonium-210 at a hotel in London. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights determined that Russia was behind the assassination.
Litvinenko expressed shock at the news of Navalny’s death, saying she had a “very small hope” that Navalny could potentially leave prison and start his political career if Putin’s regime fell.
“The international community needs to take stronger action rather than just offering condolences and expressing sympathy to the Navalny family, but taking tangible steps,” Litvinenko stated.
Many Western leaders expressed outrage at Navalny’s death, prompting Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to label their response as unacceptable. British Foreign Minister David Cameron declared that Britain would take action in light of Navalny’s death, without specifying what that action might involve.
In Russia, at least 340 individuals have been detained at small gatherings across 30 cities since Navalny’s death, according to a Russian human rights organization.
“When we witness even small protests, even a small reaction to the death of Alexei Navalny, it is very significant. We still have people who are not indoctrinated,” Litvinenko remarked.
(Reporting by Kristian Brunse; Writing by Farouq Suleiman; Editing by Frances Kerry)
