Yulia, Alexei Navalny’s wife and unwavering support

Published on: 02/18/2024 – 8:00 pm

4 minutes

It had been two years since Yulia Navalnaya saw her husband, Russian rival Alexei Navalny, when she spoke in Munich, after his death in prison was announced on Friday 16 February.

With tears in her eyes, who shared her long and painful battle against the Kremlin took a deep breath. “If this is true, I want Putin, his entire staff, his entire team, his entire government, his friends to know that they will be punished for what they did to our country, my family and my husband,” she said, her Sound strong but full of emotion. “And that day will come very soon,” insists Yulia Navalnaya, 47, blonde hair gathered in a tight bun as usual.

Four days later, the Russian opposition’s wife will attend a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Sunday.

“On Monday, I will welcome Yulia Navalnaya to the EU Foreign Affairs Council. EU ministers will send a strong message of support to freedom fighters in Russia and honor the memory of Alexei Navalny, He wrote on the X Network.

unwavering support

Together with Alexei Naval, she experienced the hope of large exhibitions gathered in Russia, the suffering of poisoning that he narrowly survived in 2020 and returned to Moscow a few months later, together and with his head held high. He was arrested as soon as he landed.

Also readAlexei Navalny: A look at the career of Vladimir Putin’s number one rival

Despite a 19-year prison sentence and the terrible conditions of her detention, Yulia Navalny remained optimistic. “I hope and I believe I will see Alexei free. Nothing is impossible when you are in love,” she told German daily Der Spiegel last year.

As his showdown with the Kremlin became more and more dangerous, the opposition said he would not be able to do it without his wife. His last public message was a love note for Valentine’s Day: “I feel you are with me every second”.

Yulia Navalnaya, for her first publication on social networks after the death of her husband, chose a photo where she kisses him on the forehead. In the caption, “I love you”.

Unlike Vladimir Putin, whose private life is a state secret, the couple highlighted their daily life as a family. And so Yulia Navalnya has become a public figure like her husband. His notoriety forced some of Alexei Navalny’s supporters to dream of a political future for him, even before he was behind bars.

She has so far brushed the idea aside, describing herself as a mother and a companion above all. But many wonder who else can unite the exiled and disembodied opposition.

strong woman

Her speech, after announcing her husband’s death, established her image as a strong woman.

In 2020, Yulia Navalnai watched Alexei Navalny escape death, poisoned by a “Novichok-type” substance, a powerful nerve agent, in Siberia, according to a European analysis.

She managed to get him to leave Russia while he was in a coma, into the hands of local doctors, who refused to let him go. “Every moment while we were there, I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to get him out,'” she said, accusing doctors of dragging out the process until he died or the product neurotoxic was no longer detectable.

Five months later, it was just as impressive when the couple returned to Moscow, knowing full well that the trip would end in prison. “Boy, get us some vodka, we’re going home,” she said on the plane, filmed alongside Alexei Naval, reenacting a scene from a cult Russian film.

The couple were separated at passport control on arrival. After a quick hug with her husband, taken away by the police and whom she would never see free again, her “Yulia!” at the airport. was greeted by the crowd shouting no.

On his way back to Germany after being poisoned, Alexei Navalny joked that his wife’s views were more radical than his own. “When you’re not in politics, but you see the darkest things being done against your family, of course, that makes you a radical,” he explained.

While Alexei Navalny was in prison, Yulia Navalnya assured that she would not follow in the footsteps of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who became the leader of the Belarusian opposition when her husband was detained. But for political scientist Tatiana Stenovia, “like Yulia Navalnaya or not, she becomes a political figure”.

with AFP