Leaders across Europe have reacted with sorrow to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s most vocal critic.

Rishi Sunak said the jailed dissident, who campaigned tirelessly against official corruption “demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life”. 

“Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” declared US President Joe Biden. 

EU Council President Charles Michel said the 47-year-old “made the ultimate sacrifice” to fight for the values of freedom and democracy. 

According to the Russian prison authorities, Navalny collapsed and died following a walk at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony, about 1,2000 miles northeast of Moscow, where he was serving a three-decade jail term for charges deemed to be politically motivated.  

He lost consciousness almost immediately and efforts made by the prison’s medical staff to revive him failed, they added.

Navalny rose to prominence over a decade ago by documenting and publicly denouncing what he described as the vast corruption among the “crooks and thieves” running Putin’s Russia. And, in 2018, he attempted to run for President. 

He has been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning, which he blamed on the Kremlin.

Speaking from Munich today, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s wife, said she is still seeking to verify the reports of her husband’s death. But she called on the international community “to unite and fight evil”. 

Upon hearing the reports of his death, Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief of staff, who has now fled Russia, said: “If this is true, then it’s not ‘Navalny died’, but ‘Putin killed Navalny’.”

The cause of his death remains unknown and no firm evidence has emerged yet to suggest this was an assassination. But the Russian regime has form. And his supporters have made clear that the harsh conditions of his detention mean that, either way, they hold Putin ultimately responsible for his death. 

When Navalny survived his poisoning in 2020, he knew that he was taking an enormous risk by returning to Russia. The fact that he did so anyway was evidence of his unwavering commitment to fighting for a free Russia. 

Navalny was the only opposition leader capable of bringing large numbers of anti-Kremlin protestors out onto the streets across the country. 

He remained defiant until the end, never abandoning hope of political change in his country and an end to Putin’s long and repressive rule.

Yet his death comes against a bleak backdrop. 

Since his arrest, Putin has waged a bloody war on Ukraine, banned Navalny’s own political organisation and all well-known critics of the Kremlin have either fled the country or been imprisoned.

In a month’s time, Putin is expected to win a sham election that will see him remain in power until at least 2030. 

Navalny was defiant until the end. But a free Russia – the cause he devoted his life to – has never looked further away. 

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