After Navalny’s death, can widow Yulia Navalnaya lead Russia's opposition against Putin?
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has vowed to continue her husband's fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of his death. Can she lead Russia's opposition?
His wife’s voice was the first thing Alexei Navalny recognized when he woke from a poisoning attempt that he blamed on the Kremlin.
On Monday, that voice was filled with rage against President Vladimir Putin, whom Yulia Navalnaya accused of killing her husband as she vowed to take up the mantle of his fight for a “free Russia.”
Her defiance in the aftermath of Navalny’s death in an Arctic penal colony have turned her into a leader-in-waiting for the country’s beleaguered opposition, raising hopes that his dream of a “beautiful Russia of the future” did not die with him.
Navalnaya, 47, has been in the public eye alongside her husband for years. She regularly attended protests and rallies with him, and was a constant presence as Navalny campaigned against official corruption and fought for a more democratic Russia.
But she stayed largely in her husband’s shadow — until his life hung in the balance.
Rating: 5