Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the dissident Alexei Navalny, said in a video message published on Monday that she wants to continue his work and fight for a free Russia, reports Reuters.
“I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” she said in the video message titled “I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny.” “Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” she said, adding that she would continue to work with the Russian people to create a new Russia.
Navalny’s relatives announced on Monday that the Russian authorities have not yet allowed them to see his lifeless body.
“Aleksei’s mother and his lawyers arrived at the morgue (Monday) morning. They were not authorized to enter. One of the lawyers was literally pushed out. When I asked the staff if the body was there, they didn’t answer,” a spokeswoman for the former dissident, Kira Iarmîş, announced on social media.
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service announced last Friday that Navalny, the most prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, died at the age of 47 in a prison in Siberia, where he was transferred last December. His death triggered a wave of reactions from world leaders, some of whom denounced another crime by Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Russia rejected these reactions on Monday, categorizing as “absolutely unacceptable” certain comments made by the leaders of some Western states. “We consider it absolutely unacceptable to make such statements. Well, frankly, they’re obnoxious. These statements, of course, will not affect our head of state,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Romanian FM Luminita Odobescu meets Yulia Navalnaya
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime are responsible for the death of Aleksei Navalny, Foreign Minister Luminița Odobescu said ahead of today’s meeting with the Russian opposition leader’s widow. Yulia Navalnaya is invited to the meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union countries.
“There is no doubt about the death of Alexei Navalny that the Putin regime is responsible.It will remain a symbol of the struggle for democracy, dignity, human rights and freedom. It is a loss for all Russians who are fighting for freedom and democracy. I welcome the presence today of his wife, Yulia Navalnaya.It is a difficult moment for her and her family,” said Odobescu.
The FSB allegedly dismantled the prison’s microphones and cameras
The death of Putin’s main opponent, Aleksey Navalny, remains shrouded in mystery. Russian authorities have not yet announced the official cause of death, nor have they allowed his family access to the body.
When Navalnyi was placed in isolation for the 27th time, his team published an Instagram post dedicated to his wife, Yulia, on Valentine’s Day. It was his last statement on social media.
“Baby, all we have is like in that song: cities, airport lights, blue blizzard, and thousands of miles between us. But every second I feel that you are next to me and I love you more and more,” Navalny wrote, referring to the hit “Nadejda” (Hope) by the Soviet-Polish pop star Anna German.
Meanwhile, a group of employees from the Federal Security Service and the FSB-linked Directorate L of the Federal Penitentiary Service arrived at the IK-3 penal colony where Navalnyi was serving his sentence, according to information obtained by a prisoner rights NGO. Gulagu.net.
FSB employees reconfigured the facility’s covert surveillance equipment and video surveillance systems, according to the NGO. “There is reason to believe that all microphones and hidden cameras, which could have recorded what happened to Alexei Navalny on February 15-16, were turned off and dismantled,” said Gulagu.net
Romania should be careful because “free Russia” includes Transnistria.