The widow of the Russian opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya gave a touching speech to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg.
The front image of the Russian opposition is now Yulia Navalnaya. To Alexei Navalny after his death 12 days ago, she has announced that she will continue her husband’s work and today she was invited to speak in front of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg.
A widow dressed in black and strongly breaking English with Russian accents took her audience. And the speech did not let the parliament down a bit.
Yuliya Navalnaya answered a question she heard earlier, how the EU could support the opposition and defeat Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin:
– If you really want to defeat Putin, you must develop into reformers. You guys need to stop being boring! You will not be able to harm Putin again with a new resolution or a new sanctions package, said Navalnaya.
According to Navalnaya, the old methods do not work for Putin because he does not follow the rules or morals.
– You cannot negotiate with Putin, said Yuliya Navalnaya.
Instead, he urged European politicians and authorities to investigate the money flows of Putin and his inner circle to the West:
– Putin is the leader of an organized crime gang. You and all of us must fight against the criminal gang. The political innovation here is to apply methods against organized crime, said Navalnaya.
A funeral can become a mass arrest
Yulia Navalnaya repeated her accusations that her husband was murdered by Putin’s regime. The Russian leadership denies this.
She said that she spent 12 days after her husband claiming his husband’s body from the authorities and organizing a funeral. Alexei Navalny will be buried on Friday in Moscow.
– And I’m not sure if the funeral will be peaceful or if the police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband, said Yulia Navalnaya.