Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen via video feed on a screen from the IK-2 penal colony in Pokrov before a court hearing to consider an appeal against his prison sentence on May 17, 2022 in Moscow, Russia.
Evgenia Novozhenina | Reuters
Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has died, Russian state news agency Tass reported on Friday, citing the prison service of the Yamal-Nenets region where he served his sentence.
The prison authority reportedly said that Navalny’s cause of death had yet to be determined.
Alexey Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said in a Google-translated update on the social media platform X: “We don’t have confirmation of this yet. Alexey’s lawyer is now flying to Kharp. As soon as we have information, we will report.”
CNBC could not independently verify the report.
Navalny, 47, was an anti-corruption activist and one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics. He served a 19-year prison sentence.
Navalny “felt unwell after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness,” Interfax reported, citing a statement from the prison service office of the Yamal-Nenets region.
The statement said: “All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, but did not bring positive results.” It added that an ambulance was called and emergency doctors later confirmed Navalny’s death.
According to a Google-translated post, the Investigative Department of Russia’s Investigative Committee for the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug region said on Telegram on Friday that it is organizing a procedural review into Navalny’s death.
Navalny, who previously condemned Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine as “the stupidest and most senseless war of the 21st century,” was moved to an Arctic penal colony late last year. It is widely considered to be one of the toughest prisons in the country.
Navalny has been behind bars in Russia since 2021 after spending almost half a year in Germany recovering from nerve agent poisoning in August 2020.
The German government said in September 2020 that Navalny had been poisoned by a chemical nerve agent, saying a toxicology report provided “clear evidence.” The nerve agent belonged to the Novichok family, which was developed by the Soviet Union. Toxicological tests carried out in France and Sweden also came to the same conclusion.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement in Navalny’s poisoning.
Navalny was a well-known figure in Russia and wrote numerous reports on the corruption that flourished under Putin’s leadership. Putin is known to have a long history of not mentioning Navalny by name in public – a decision the Kremlin said was previously based on the president’s opinion of the critic.
World leaders are reacting
World leaders responded to news of Navalny’s reported death by honoring his courage as an anti-corruption activist and offering condolences to his family.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said he was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the reports, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “very sad.” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the news of Navalny’s death “terrible.”
Other senior figures raised questions about the circumstances of Navalny’s death.
Responding to political leaders’ comments on Navalny’s reported death, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said about “
She added: “There is no data on forensic medical examinations, yet the West has already expressed its ‘conclusions’.”
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2024-02-16 13:08:32
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