'Putin killed my husband': Navalny's wife says Russian leader must pay as she addresses EU Parliament

'Putin killed my husband': Navalny's wife says Russian leader must pay as she addresses EU Parliament

WATCH: Navalny's wife tells EU lawmakers that Putin 'must answer for what he has done to my country'

Reuters
Georgina Cutler

By Georgina Cutler


Published: 28/02/2024

- 11:11

Updated: 28/02/2024

- 14:50

Navalny's wife said Putin 'must answer for what he has done to my country'

The wife of Alexei Navalny has accused Vladimir Putin of killing her husband after he was "tortured and starved" as she addressed the EU Parliament.

Yulia Navalnaya said Putin "must answer for what he has done to my country".


She added that her husband's "murder" has shown that "Putin is capable of anything and that you cannot negotiate with him".

Navalny's funeral will take place tomorrow but his family are unsure whether it will be peaceful or "whether the police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to Alexei".

Yulia NavalnayaThe wife of Alexei Navalny has accused Vladimir Putin of killing her husband after he was "tortured and starved" as she addressed the EU ParliamentReuters

Addressing the EU Parliament, Navalnaya said her husband inspired people despite the restrictions the Kremlin placed on him.

She said: "Even in Putin's gulag, Alexei managed to pass on ideas for projects that would make the Kremlin panic."

The 47-year-old also warned that Putin cannot be hurt by sanctions or resolutions.

"This is the answer to the question. If you really want to defeat Putin, you have to become an innovator. And you have to stop being boring," she added.

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link from the IK-2 corrective penal colony in Pokrov

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was seen on a screen via a video link from the IK-2 corrective penal colony in Pokrov

​Reuters 

"You can't hurt Putin with another resolution or another set of sanctions that is no different from the previous ones. You can't defeat him by thinking he's a man of principle who has morals and rules."

Navalnaya spoke in Strasbourg, 12 days after her husband died suddenly in a Russian penal colony at the age of 47.

She has promised to continue his work, urging Russians to share her rage against the Russian leader.

"Putin is the leader of an organised criminal gang. This includes poisoners and assassins but they're just puppets. The most important thing is the people close to Putin - his friends, associates and keepers of mafia money," she said.

Addressing the EU Parliament, Navalnaya said her husband inspired people despite the restrictions the Kremlin placed on him

Reuters

Alexei Navalny

Navalnaya spoke in Strasbourg, 12 days after her husband died suddenly in a Russian penal colony at the age of 47

GETTY

"You and all of us must fight the criminal gang. And the political innovation here is to apply the methods of fighting organised crime, not political competition.

"Not statements of concern but the search for mafia associates in your countries, for discreet lawyers and financiers who are helping Putin and his friends to hide money."

Concluding, she said: "Putin must answer for what he has done to my country. Putin must answer for what he has done to a neighbouring, peaceful country. And Putin must answer for everything he has done to Alexei.

"My husband will never see what the beautiful Russia of the future will look like, but we must see it. And I will do my best to make his dream come true, that evil will fall and this beautiful future will come."

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