Russian security officers are alleged to have visited Alexei Navalny’s prison just days before his death, amid accusations that the Kremlin critic was murdered.
Two days before he died from “sudden death syndrome” on Friday, two agents from the Russian intelligence service FSB reportedly disconnected some of the closed-circuit television and recording devices at the Polar Wolf Arctic prison.
According to a report on the website of the human rights advocacy group gulagu.net, the visit was mentioned in a report by a section of the Federal Penitentiary Service.
Although the information on the website is not always proven to be correct, it was the first to expose Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin for recruitment in Russian prisons.
Russian investigators are alleged to have told this to the opposition leader’s mother while visiting the brutal IK-3 Polar Wolf prison colony where he was being held this morning.
Lyudmila Navalnaya was seen today traveling to the colony in northern Russia, where she was told her son had died after returning from a walk at 2:17 p.m. local time on Friday.
Her press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, claimed in a video that Navalnaya had been murdered.
Ms Yarmysh said: “The whole world knows that the president of Russia personally gave this order (for his assassination) just as it knows that Alexei was never afraid of him, never remained silent and never stopped acting.” We must not give up. This is what Alexei urged us to do.” The times reported.
Russian security officers are alleged to have visited Alexei Navalny’s prison just days before his death, amid claims that the Kremlin critic was murdered.
Navalny’s widow condemned Putin’s regime at a conference on Friday and vowed to “take responsibility” for what happened.
Yulia Navalnaya, wife of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
Navalnaya and his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, (pictured) have two children together
Lyudmila Navalnaya, mother of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and lawyer Vasily Dubkov pictured today
Navalny’s allies say they were denied the opportunity to see the body, which would remain in the hands of authorities until the investigation was completed.
Navalny’s lawyer, who arrived in the city of Salekhard with Navalny’s mother on Saturday, was allegedly told by the prison that the body was being held in the morgue.
A contact at the Salekhard morgue later denied the body was there, leaving even more question marks surrounding the shocking death of one of Putin’s fiercest critics.
The shocking death has sparked a wave of vigils and protests across Russia, prompting police to crack down and make hundreds of arrests since Friday.
“It is obvious that the murderers want to cover their tracks and that is why they do not hand over Alexei’s body, hiding it even from his mother,” his team said in a post on Telegram.
Navalnaya and his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, have two children together, Daria, 23, and Zakhar, 15.
He condemned Putin’s regime at a conference on Friday and vowed to “take responsibility” for what happened.
In London, the Foreign Office summoned diplomats to the Russian embassy and called for Navalny’s death to be “fully and transparently investigated”, while Lord David Cameron warned there would be “consequences” for the death.
The G7 demanded that Russia “stop its unacceptable persecution of political dissent, as well as the systematic repression of freedom of expression and undue limitation of civil rights,” in today’s statement.
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died, according to the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region, where he was serving his sentence.
The shocking death of Putin’s fiercest critic has sparked a wave of vigils and protests across Russia, prompting police to crack down and make hundreds of arrests since Friday.
It comes as Ukrainian troops withdraw from Avdiivka, a small industrial town in the eastern Donbas region that has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression since 2014.
For Vladimir Putin, whose reelection as Russian president in March is all but assured with the opposition muzzled or exiled, Avdiivka is a “significant victory,” according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest enemy, died in prison on Friday, according to Russia’s prison agency.
The Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement that Navalny, 47, felt unwell after a walk and “almost immediately lost consciousness.” Paramedics reportedly came to try to rehabilitate him without success.
Navalny, serving a 19-year sentence on “extremism” charges, had recently been moved from his former prison in central Russia’s Vladimir region to a chilling “special regime” penal colony above the Arctic Circle.
His allies, a brave minority in Russia fighting corruption, said at the time that they feared for his life after he “disappeared” in December to travel to the remote region known for its long, harsh winters, just months before the closely followed Russian presidential elections. elections next month.
Navalny was last seen via video link during a court hearing on Thursday.
Tributes are paid as people demonstrate outside the Russian embassy in Denmark.
Police detain woman during Navalny memorial event in Moscow
People light candles during a vigil for the critic in Germany
Dressed in the black prison uniform, he seemed to be in good spirits: his trademark humor was showing again.
“Your Honor, I will send you my personal account number so you can use your enormous salary as a federal judge to ‘warm up’ my personal account, because I am running out of money,” he said.
State media reported that he raised no health complaints during the session.
His mother said she had seen her son in the prison colony on Monday. At that time, she said: “He was alive, healthy, happy.”
One of Navalny’s lawyers, Leonid Solovyov, told the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta that the Kremlin critic was “normal” when a lawyer saw him on Wednesday.
But the Federal Penitentiary Service announced his death in a statement yesterday, saying Navalny felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness. An ambulance arrived to try to save him, but to no avail.
The sudden death of the former leader of the Anti-Corruption Foundation has provoked a strong response from his supporters as far away as Japan, Poland, Finland, Mumbai and San Francisco.
People leave flowers and candles as they gather for a demonstration in Amsterdam.
A woman places a flower in front of the Russian embassy in Denmark
In several Russian cities, authorities have cracked down on protests and vigils, and are shown in photographs removing supporters from makeshift memorials. Masked police were seen leading away mourners at a memorial to victims of Soviet repression in Moscow.
The protest monitoring group OVD-Info said more than 270 people had been arrested across Russia at rallies and tributes to Navalny since his death was announced.
Hundreds of flowers and dozens of candles could be seen at the memorial to the victims of Soviet repression in Moscow and more flowers could be seen abandoned in the snow on nearby sidewalks.
“The death of Alexei Navalny is the worst thing that can happen to Russia,” said a note left among the flowers and photographs of Navalny next to the monument.
Authorities in the Russian capital said Friday they were aware of online calls “to participate in a mass demonstration in central Moscow” and warned people not to attend.
‘We will not forget, we will not forgive. Those responsible will be punished!’ the note said.
Police officers were also seen standing near a similar monument to political prisoners in St. Petersburg today.
Protests are illegal in Russia under strict laws against dissent, and authorities have cracked down especially hard on demonstrations in support of Navalny.
Earlier today, Volodymyr Zelensky issued a chilling warning to critics of the Putin regime at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
“Putin kills whoever he wants,” the Ukrainian president said this morning. ‘He whether it is an opposition leader or anyone else who appears to be a target. He maintains power through corruption and violence.”
“Putin has assassinated another opposition leader,” Zelensky said bluntly. The Kremlin has denied his involvement in Navalny’s death.
Zelensky spoke about the need to repel Putin’s advances eastward and depose him, as Russia prepares for its closely watched presidential election next month.
He warned Saturday that his country’s battle to repel Russian troops was being slowed by a lack of long-range weapons and artillery shells.
