Alexei Navalny’s daughter celebrated her graduation from Stanford University on Sunday, alongside her beaming mother Yulia, just four months after the death of the Russian opposition leader.
Dasha Navalnaya, 23, took to Instagram on Monday to share photos from her graduation ceremony from an Ivy League university in California the day before.
Wearing a white mini dress and yellow kitten heels for the occasion, the graduate can be seen raising a hand in the air in celebration in one photo.
His proud mother and Alexei’s widow also shared some snaps on social media.
In one image, the mother-daughter duo appear side by side, with Dasha wearing her graduation gown and ribbon, while also holding her diploma.
Alexei Navalny’s 23-year-old daughter Dasha graduated from Stanford University on Sunday, just months after her father’s sudden death.
Dasha and her beaming mother Yulia pose together on Dasha’s graduation day on Sunday.
Alexei Navalny’s wife and daughter will continue their fight against Putin
The radiant Yulia poses with her arm affectionately on her daughter’s shoulder, wearing a yellow midi dress and orange heels.
Yulia also shared a selfie with her smiling daughter, who is wearing her graduation cap.
The proud mother’s caption, written in Russian, reads: “I am very proud… The smartest, the most beautiful and, most importantly, the best friend in the world.” Our girl’.
Yulia also shared videos of the graduation ceremony on her Instagram stories. One clip shows the crowd of new graduates applauding, while another shows the graduating class leaving a building.
Dasha was captured showing her mother a tender smile.
Yulia shared clips of Dasha’s graduation on her Instagram story. In one clip, footage was filmed of the graduating class and her supporters in the crowd cheering.
Another clip shows Dasha, dressed in her graduation gown, flashing a smile at her proud mother.
The 23-year-old’s graduation comes just months after the death of her father, political activist Alexei, in February. He was recognized as Putin’s fiercest critic in Russia.
Before his untimely death at age 47, he had survived poisoning attempts and years in some of Russia’s most notorious prisons, having exposed corruption at nearly every level of the Russian state.
Even behind bars, he was an influential voice.
But in February of this year, he reportedly lost consciousness and died while walking through the Arctic prison of Polar Wolf.
Alexei’s allies, branded extremists by authorities, accused Putin of killing him and said they would provide evidence to support their accusation, although the Kremlin has denied any state involvement.
US intelligence sources have said there is no evidence to prove Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved in the assassination of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Yulia Navalnaya, center, widow of Alexey Navalny believes the Kremlin ordered her husband’s murder
Navalny was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest internal critic. Many believe he ordered the death of his rival.
Yulia met Alexei in 1998 while on holiday in Turkey, and the couple married just two years later, giving birth to their two children, Dasha (pictured, left) and Zakhar (pictured, below).
U.S. intelligence agencies determined in April that Putin likely did not order Navalny’s assassination, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Yulia has maintained that she believes Putin was responsible for her husband’s death.
Despite his death, Dasha and Yulia have taken up Alexei’s baton.
“Putin killed half of me, but my other half will not give up,” Yulia declared after her husband’s death.
Dasha supported her mother and even attended a meeting in San Francisco with President Joe Biden in February.
Biden commented on the mother-daughter duo, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that “the legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha.”
He is expected to play an increasingly important role in keeping his father’s campaign alive.
Earlier this month, before Dasha’s graduation, an article by the 23-year-old was published in Harper’s Bazaar titled ‘My Father the Superhero’.
In a moving tribute to his late father, he wrote: “I always considered my father a superhero: big and strong, smart and charismatic, hard-working and resilient. He had an unwavering moral compass and little patience for injustice. My father was a brave man ‘He was not afraid because he understood the importance of his fight: for democracy, transparency and truth.’