Three days after her husband's death, Yulia Navalnaya publicly announced that she would continue his work and take over the management of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). She also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing Alexei Navalny and announced that an investigation into the exact details was underway.
“We know exactly why Putin killed Alexei three days ago,” she said in a video address. “We will tell you about it soon. We will definitely find out who exactly and how exactly committed this crime. We will tell you their names and show you their faces.”
Observers interpreted Navalnaya's speech as an expression of her announcement that she would enter politics. Some believe that the image of a strong woman could unite the opposition inside and outside Russia.
The Navalnys met in Turkey and later joined Russia's Yabloko party. Image: Sefa Karacan/AA/Picture Alliance
An invisible helper
Yulia Abrosimova and Alexei Navalny met in 1998 while vacationing in Turkey. They married in 2000 and their daughter Daria was born a year later. Their son Zakhar was born in 2008. The couple joined the Yabloko party in the 2000s.
Although Navalnaya graduated from the Faculty of International Economic Relations at Plekhanov University in Moscow and completed an internship at a business school in Denmark, she did not pursue a career of her own. Instead, she chose to support her husband's political career, helping him with translations and business plans as he became more important.
“I was an invisible helper,” Navalnaya told Afisha magazine in a 2014 cover article titled “The Stronger Sex.”
In December 2011, a year after founding his donor-funded anti-corruption project RosPil, Navalny was arrested after attending a rally for fair elections. His wife and other opposition activists were looking for him in detention centers in the Russian capital Moscow. He was released after two weeks in custody.
Navalnaya later said the “most dramatic day” was in 2013, when her husband was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement. He was accused of defrauding the state-owned timber company KirovLes and was ordered to pay the equivalent of $35,000 (32,000 euros) in damages. In images from the courtroom, Navalnaya was seen with her head bowed. She was prepared for the worst. After a public outcry, the sentence was eventually suspended.
Navalnaya told Afisha that she had come to terms with the risks of her husband's political work: “People believe in him, their eyes light up and they take to the streets, even if they are intimidated and risk being arrested. That's great.” “
Navalnaya earned the opposition's “First Lady” nickname in 2013, when Alexei Navalny ran for mayor of Moscow and came second with around 27% of the vote. He campaigned for more transparency in politics, including with regard to his own income, assets and also his family. The Navalnys seemed different from other politicians.
Doctor Aleksandr Polupan told DW that Navalnaya was composed, strong-willed and confident despite the stress following her husband's poisoning in Omsk in the summer of 2020, and that she was also responsible for the case attracting widespread public attention. Navalnaya had appealed to Putin to allow her husband to be treated in Germany; The president later said he had personally asked prosecutors to allow Navalny to leave the country.
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“Moral symbol of resistance”
Now that Navalny is dead, his wife wants to succeed him. Political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin said Navalnaya could be an important symbol in the fight against “male” tyranny in Russia. He added that while the majority of Russia's male population believes that NATO wants to attack Russia, the female population now has to solve problems: “Their husbands were killed, brothers had to join the army and sons were sent to die in Ukraine. “. Navalnaya’s image could prove to be a unifying force for the opposition at home and abroad.”
Andrey Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, agreed that Navalnaya could become a “moral symbol of resistance.” He said that if a Democratic presidential candidate were ever nominated, she would be considered the best candidate in the eyes of millions.
The Navalnys flew back to Russia after Alexei was treated for poisoning in Germany. Image: Mstyslav Chernov/AP Photo/picture Alliance
“Keep fighting and don’t give up”
Navalnaya told Afisha that she had been interested in society, politics and the media since she was a child. “I have voted in every election since I was 18,” she said, describing Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev as the ideal couple who “went for walks together almost in the evenings after work.” She said her bond with Alexei gave them both strength despite the risks. He relied on her to improve his speeches while she relied on him.
“By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul,” she said in her video address. “But I still have the other half, and it shows me that I have no right to give up.”
She called on her addressees to share their “anger, rage and hatred for those who dared to destroy our future” and to help build a new Russia. “Exactly as Alexei Navalny imagined. Full of dignity, justice and love. There is no other way. The unimaginable sacrifice he made cannot be in vain.”
Keep fighting and don't give up. I am not afraid and I urge you not to be afraid of anything either.
This article was originally published in Russian.