The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February last year, said two laboratories in different countries have confirmed that her husband was poisoned for a second time while in custody.
In a statement on Telegram, Navalnaya said her team managed to obtain Navalny’s biological samples in February 2024 and smuggle them abroad.
“The laboratories of two different countries conducted tests. These laboratories, independently of each other, concluded that Alexei had been poisoned,” she said.
Navalnaya said that all other evidence remains in Russia, limiting the possibility of a legal investigation abroad. She accused international actors of avoiding publication of the findings because of “political considerations.”
“There are always reasons why this information is not published. Nobody wants uncomfortable truths to surface at the wrong moment.”
Navalnaya called the results of the analyses “a matter of public interest” and urged for them to be made public.
She demanded that the results of the tests be made public: “I demand this for myself, for our children, for Alexei’s parents, for our supporters in Russia, and for all people around the world who are fighting for freedom and justice.”
Navalnaya directly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s security services for her husband’s death, saying they bear responsibility for developing and using banned chemical and biological weapons.
On Feb. 16, 2024, Russian authorities reported the death of the 47-year-old opposition leader in a prison in in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in Russia’s Far North.
While in the prison yard, Navalny began to feel unwell and informed the on-duty officer, who escorted him to Section No. 4.
Later, Navalny lay down on the floor, complained of sharp abdominal pain, vomited, experienced seizures, and lost consciousness. This was immediately reported to the prison’s medical staff, as stated in the official document. However, in the final version of the report, there was no mention of Navalny’s abdominal pain, vomiting, or seizures.
Navalny’s team stated that the medical report shown to his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, listed his death was from natural causes.
Navalnaya, like her late husband, openly opposes Putin’s policies and the war in Ukraine, though her statements elicited mixed reactions among Ukrainians.
In one instance, she expressed her opposition to the war but also stated that she did not wish for Russia’s defeat. Navalnaya also voiced concerns about Western weapons supplies to Kyiv and said that “bombs also hit Russians.” She said that the war is Putin’s personal initiative, not one endorsed by all Russians.
Last November Kyiv Post reported a plea that urged Ukrainians to “stop creating an enemy” after Ukrainian activists sounded an air raid alarm simultaneously during her speech at the Lisbon Web Summit on Nov. 12.
Ukrainian activists also shouted: “Stop Russia” and “Stop the war” during Navalnaya’s speech, as the siren from the mobile phones was not loud enough.
The Ukrainian developer of the “Air Raid” app, who also attended the summit, managed to synchronize the alert to set off simultaneously for all those who wished to participate.
Eyewitnesses said many foreign attendees were in shock when the first air raid sirens began, not understanding what was happening.
Upon hearing the chants, Navalnaya reached for the microphone and said it was hard for her to hear the words from the audience and invited people to come on stage. One activist accepted and asked Navalnaya if she supported Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Later, Navalnaya posted on social media, expressing surprise that a “group of Ukrainian Web Summit participants” asked her if she supported the war against Ukraine.
“Seriously? You’re asking me that? I’m fighting against Putin’s regime and against the war. I believe these are interconnected things,” she wrote, reiterating her late husband’s anti-Putin and anti-war stance.
“We have one common enemy,” she added. “And Ukrainians don’t need to create an enemy in the form of the Russian opposition.”
However, the Ukrainian activists said Navalnaya never directly condemned Russia for the full-scale invasion, instead she simply reiterated that she opposes Putin’s regime and spoke about her late husband.