Fight for a New Russia

“Three days after the death of her husband, Yulia Navalnaya announced on Monday that she would continue Alexei Navalny’s work and fight for a new Russia,” writes Süddeutsche Zeitung.

“After her moving speech at the Munich Security Conference shortly after the news of her husband’s death in the Russian penal colony, Navalnaya posted a video message yesterday. ‘I urge you to stand by my side,’ she said. She accused the Russian leadership of torturing and tormenting Alexei Navalny and described his prison conditions. Vladimir Putin, she said, had partially killed her as well—but she still had another part of herself that told her she had no right to give up. She announced that she would soon name ‘those who committed the crime.’ She wants to fight for honest elections. ‘We want to live differently,’ she said.

According to SZ, Yulia Navalnaya stood by her husband throughout the years as the Kremlin’s most prominent opponent. She was with him during mass protests in the winter of 2011/2012 when Navalny coined the term ‘Party of Crooks and Thieves’ for the Kremlin party ‘United Russia,’ and through numerous court trials.

With her public announcement to continue in her husband’s place and in his spirit, Navalnaya is now becoming a political figure. ‘There has been ongoing discussion in Russia about who could fill Navalny’s place due to his long prison sentence. The fact that Yulia Navalnaya is stepping into the public eye so quickly after his death is likely also related to the upcoming presidential election in Russia next month, where Putin seeks re-election for another six years. Although Navalnaya does not live in Russia, she now apparently sees herself as a new figurehead for the Russian opposition movement.'”