Alexei Navalny’s widow says Putin killed her husband as Donald Trump breaks silence on death

Donald Trump has finally weighed on the death of Putin foe Alexei Navalny as his widow has blamed the Russian leader for his death.

Alexei Navalny’s widow says Putin killed her husband as Donald Trump breaks silence on death.

Alexei Navalny’s widow said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin killed her husband, as she vowed to carry on his work, three days after he died in an Arctic prison.

Yulia Navalnaya comments came as US presidential candidate broke his silence on Mr Navalny’s death in a social media post that mentioned his own legal troubles but failed to mention Putin or Russia.

Leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya takes part in a meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers in Brussels, Belgium, on February 19, 2024. (Photo by YVES HERMAN / POOL / AFP)

Holding back tears in a video address published on Monday, Ms Navalnaya said: “Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband, Alexei Navalny”.

Prison authorities said Mr Navalny died after losing consciousness following a walk in his prison colony in Kharp, 1200 kilometres northeast of Moscow inside the Arctic Circle.

“Alexei died in a prison colony after three years of torment and torture,” Ms Navalnaya said.

She was by her husband’s side for more than a decade in his fight against Putin and has vowed to continue his work.

“The most important thing we can do for Alexei and for ourselves is to keep fighting, more desperately and more fiercely than before,” she said.

Navalny and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya. Picture: Reuters/The Times

Flowers are seen placed around portraits of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at a makeshift memorial in front of the former Russian consulate in Frankfurt, Germany. (Photo by AFP)

“We need to seize every opportunity to fight against war, against corruption, against injustice, to fight for fair elections and the freedom of speech, to fight to take back our country.”

She also vowed to uncover the people who she said had killed her husband.

“We know exactly why Putin killed Alexei three days ago … We will definitely find out exactly who carried out this crime and how it was carried out. We will name names and show faces,” she said.

The Kremlin said earlier on Monday that an investigation into Mr Navalny’s death was ongoing and slammed Western governments that have said Putin carries responsibility for his death.

Russian authorities have so far refused to hand over Navalny’s body to his mother and lawyer, enraging his supports who have said it was a move by the “killers” to “cover their tracks”.

Vladimir Putin talks to students and workers at the Stankomash plant in Chelyabinsk on February 16, 2024. (Photo by Alexander RYUMIN / POOL / AFP)

Trump’s meandering Navalny statement

Also on Monday, former US president and Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination Donald Trump finally acknowledged Mr Navalny’s death.

He issued a statement that avoided criticism of the Kremlin and instead portrayed the Russian opposition leader’s sudden passing as a sign of a collapsing United States.

“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our country,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social website.

“It is a slow, steady progression, with crooked, radical left politicians, prosecutors and judges leading us down a path to destruction.”

Mr Trump decried “open borders, rigged elections and grossly unfair courtroom decisions” in the United States, which he called “a nation in decline”.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gave a statement on Navalny that was all about the US. (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Mr Trump’s initial silence on the matter had the day before drawn criticism from his main challenger for the Republican nomination.

“The fact that he won’t acknowledge anything with Navalny — either he sides with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and thinks it’s cool that Putin killed one of his political opponents, or he just doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal”, Nikki Haley, who is challenging Mr Trump for the Republican presidential ticket, said on the US’ ABC network.

“Either one of those is concerning. Either one of those is a problem,” added Ms Haley.

Mr Trump recently stunned Western allies after saying he would “encourage” Russia to attack members of the NATO military alliance who had not met their financial obligations.

Putin has long been admired by certain strains in the US hard-right, including by Mr Trump, who has a history of praising the Kremlin leader, for example calling him a “genius” and more credible than US intelligence”.