Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, claimed that two independent laboratories had confirmed her husband was poisoned. In a video posted on X on September 17, Navalnaya explained that the tests were conducted on biological samples smuggled out of Russia after Navalny’s sudden death on February 16, 2024.
Navalny’s allies have long accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his death, while Russian authorities maintain he died from a combination of health problems, including hypertension and heart arrhythmia. Moscow has dismissed allegations of poisoning as politically motivated and “absurd.”
The sudden death of Alexei Navalny shocked and angered the world. According to Russian officials, he died in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence.
Navalny rose to prominence by exposing high-level corruption within Russia's government. He achieved international recognition as the Kremlin's most outspoken critic, openly accusing President Vladimir Putin's regime of "sucking the blood out of Russia" through a "feudal state" concentrating power in the Kremlin. Navalny organized anti-government demonstrations, his voice speaking the street language of younger Russians. But it's that same voice that was suspiciously silenced in northwestern Siberia in what many regard as an assassination ordered by Putin himself. But what do we know about this opposition leader, political activist, and lone unifying figure?
Click through and revisit the life and death of Alexei Navalny.