The wife of Alexei Navalny vowed on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin, his allies and the Kremlin “will have to pay” following reports that her husband — a prominent opposition leader — collapsed and died in custody at a penal colony in Siberia.
Yulia Navalnaya, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, while Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were also in attendance, said, “If this is true, I want Putin and his entire surrounding, Putin’s friends, his government to know — that they will have to pay for what they’ve done with our country, with my family, and my husband.”
“And that day will come very soon,” she declared.
“I want to call on the entire world community, everyone present here, people all over the world — we shall all together defeat this devil, defeat the catastrophic regime that is currently in Russia,” she continued. “This regime and Vladimir Putin must be held accountable for all the horrors they are doing to my country, to our country — to Russia.”
PUTIN CRITIC ALEXEI NAVALNY DEAD AT 47, RUSSIAN OFFICIALS SAY
Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, speaks during the Munich Security Conference in Munich on Friday. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool Photo /AP)
Navalnaya also said, “I do not know if I shall believe this devastating news, which we are receiving solely from the governmental offices in Russia. Because, for many years now, and you all know this, we cannot trust Putin, Putin’s government, they always lie.”
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said Friday that Navalny, 47, reported feeling sick following a walk and then lost consciousness at the IK-3 penal colony he was being held at in Kharp, which is also known as “Polar Wolf.”
NAVALNY SEEN GRINNING, LAUGHING IN COURTROOM VIDEO A DAY BEFORE HIS DEATH
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool Photo via AP)
An ambulance then arrived at the scene, but Navalny could not be revived, and now his death is under investigation, The Associated Press reported, citing the statement. Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges.
“I want to thank the conference for letting me speak on the main stage,” Navalnaya also told world leaders in Munich on Friday.
People lay flowers paying their respects to Alexei Navalny at the Wall of Sorrow memorial to victims of political repression in Moscow on Friday. (AP/Dmitry Serebryakov)
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“You have probably all seen devastating news. I thought for quite some whether to come here or to fly directly to my children. Then I asked myself — what would Alexei do? And I am certain, he would be here,” she said. “He would be on this stage.”
