The widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has urged people to fight for a "free" Russia on her husband's death anniversary.
Yulia Navalnaya, in a video shared on her late husband's YouTube channel, said the opposition supporters “know why we are fighting: for a future Russia free, peaceful and beautiful".
She added: "The one Alexei dreamed of is possible; do everything to make his dream come true."
Navalny, a fierce Kremlin critic, was announced dead by Russian authorities on 16 February 2024 while serving time in a “special regime” penal colony in central Russia. The 47-year-old had reportedly fallen unwell after a walk at the jail before losing consciousness.
Navalny was arrested in 2021 after returning to Russia and had been serving sentences totalling more than 30 years on a number of charges, which were widely rejected by the international community as trumped up.
Since her husband's death, Navalnaya has vowed to continue his fight and spent the past year speaking publicly on Russia. She accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of trying to “erase our memory of Alexei’s name, of hiding the truth about his murder and forcing us to give up”.
“Everyone can do something: protest, write to political prisoners, change the minds of those close to you, support each other," she said in the Russian language. "Alexei inspires people … who understand that our country is not just about war, corruption and oppression."
Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation continues to expose corruption in Russia in colourful videos and organises occasional protests abroad, condemning Mr Putin and the war in Ukraine.
Hundreds of people on Sunday paid their respects to Navalny in an act of protest in Russia, risking prison sentence. His grave at the Borisovsky Cemetery in Moscow was covered with flowers and cards as supporters flocked to pay tribute to him. Western diplomats, including those from the US, the UK and EU, also came to honour his memory.
A Moscow resident called Alexander told the Associated Press that Navalny was someone who “fought the way no one” else did to change the country.
Navalny's mother, Lyudmila, once again called for those responsible for his death to be brought to justice. "The whole world knows the person who ordered (it). But we want those who carried it out to be known, too," she told reporters.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Mr Putin bore the “ultimate responsibility” for Navalny’s death. Navalny “gave his life for a free and democratic Russia”, she said as she called for the release of political prisoners in Russia.
“As Russia intensifies its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, it also continues its internal repression, targeting those who stand for democracy,” Ms Kallas said.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz in his tribute to Navalny said Mr Putin’s critic died “because he fought for democracy and freedom in Russia”.
Mr Putin “brutally combats freedom and its defenders. Navalny’s work was all the more brave,” Mr Scholz said. “His courage made a difference and reaches far beyond his death.”
Navalny is the second opposition leader whose sudden death shocked Russia and the world. In February 2015, prominent politician Boris Nemtsov was gunned down on a bridge near the Kremlin just days before he, Navalny and others were expected to lead a mass anti-Putin rally.
