In a video published Monday February 19, Yulia Navalnaïa, her voice sometimes tight with emotion, assured that she would take up the torch. “Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband, Alexei Navalny. Vladimir Putin killed the father of my children […] With him, he wanted to kill our hope, our freedom, our future,” asserted Alexeï Navalny’s widow, three days after the opponent’s death in prison in unclear conditions.
“I will continue the work of Alexeï Navalny. I will continue for our country, with you. And I call on you all to stand close to me […] It’s not a shame to do little, it’s a shame to do nothing, it’s a shame to let yourself be frightened,” she insisted. While US President Joe Biden said “consider “additional sanctions against Russia, several European states announced on Monday that they had summoned the Russian ambassador stationed in their country.
France
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, announced Monday that he had summoned the Russian ambassador to France after the death in prison of opponent Alexeï Navalny. “I requested the summons of the Russian ambassador today at 6:30 p.m.,” he announced during a trip to Argentina, estimating that “the regime of Vladimir Putin has once again shown its true nature. A diplomatic source told AFP that the Russian ambassador had been received at the indicated time.
Norway
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced Monday evening that it had summoned the Russian ambassador after the death of the Russian opponent in prison. “Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian ambassador for a meeting on the death of Alexei Navalny,” the ministry said in a statement.
“During this meeting, Norway will express its point of view regarding the responsibility of the Russian authorities in this death and to facilitate a transparent investigation,” according to this press release. He specifies that the meeting will take place very soon.
The Netherlands
The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs also announced on Monday that she had summoned the Russian ambassador to the Netherlands following the death in prison of Vladimir Putin’s sworn enemy. “It is terrible that Alexei Navalny has paid the ultimate price for his fight for a free and democratic Russia,” Hanke Bruins Slot said. “This afternoon, I summoned the Russian ambassador to the ministry to ask for clarification on his death,” Hanke Bruins Slot continued. “We strongly call on Russia to hand over Navalny’s body to his family and loved ones,” she added.
Spain
The Spanish government summoned the Russian ambassador to Spain for the same reasons, diplomatic sources told AFP on Monday. These sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not specify when the Russian ambassador to Madrid, Yuri Klimenko, was summoned. On Friday, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, affirmed that his country “(demanded) that the circumstances” of the death of Alexeï Navalny be clarified.
Sweden
The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also summoned the Russian ambassador to Sweden following the death in prison of the Russian opponent, it announced on Monday. “The European Union must act against political oppression in Russia. This is all the more important since on February 16, Alexei Navalny died in detention” in Russia, Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in a statement.
The Swedish government has also taken the initiative at the European level to examine the possibility of new sanctions against Moscow, according to the press release. The European Union and the United States have already applied a battery of sanctions against Moscow since the outbreak of war following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Germany
A few hours earlier, the German Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Germany, a government spokeswoman said on Monday. “The politically motivated prosecution of Alexei Navalny and many other critics of the Russian government and the inhumane conditions of detention show how brutally the Russian justice system acts against those who think differently and what means President Vladimir Putin uses to suppress freedom of expression in Russia”, indicated this spokesperson during a regular press conference.
“We condemn this in the strongest possible terms and expressly call for the release of all political prisoners in Russia, particularly since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” she added.
The United Kingdom
The British government, for its part, summoned diplomats from the Russian embassy on Friday evening to let them know that the Russian authorities are held “fully responsible” for the death of the number one opponent of the Kremlin.
The British Foreign Office also said in a statement that the death of Alexei Navalny in his Arctic prison must “be the subject of a full and transparent investigation”. “In recent years, authorities have imprisoned him on trumped-up charges, poisoned him with a banned nerve agent, and sent him to an Arctic penal colony. No one should doubt the brutal nature of the Russian system”, underlined a spokesperson for British diplomacy.