For her first publication on social networks after the death of her husband, Yulia Navalnaïa chose a photo where Alexeï Navalny kisses her on the forehead. In the caption, “I love you”. The number one opponent of the Kremlin, aged 47, died Friday February 16, according to the authorities, in his Arctic prison. Yulia Navalnaïa was at the Munich Conference when the death was announced. Alexei Navalny’s wife said she held Russian President Vladimir Putin “personally responsible” for his death and called on the international community to unite to inflict defeat on “this terrifying regime”.
“If this is the truth, I would like Vladimir Putin, his entire staff, his entire entourage, his entire government, his friends, to know that they will be punished for what they did to our country, to my family and to my husband. They will be brought to justice and that day will come soon,” she said, holding back tears from the podium of the Munich Conference. Her speech established her image as a strong woman.
Yulia Navalnaïa meets the foreign ministers of the European Union this Monday in Brussels. “EU ministers will send a strong message of support to the freedom fighters in Russia and will honor the memory of Alexei Navalny,” wrote the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell on the X network.
“I feel that you are with me every second”
With Alexeï Navalny, the most notable opposition representative in Russia, she experienced the hope of the major demonstrations that he mobilized in Russia, the anguish of a poisoning which he narrowly survived in August 2020 and a return to Moscow a few months later, together and with our heads held high. As soon as he landed in Russia in January 2021, he was arrested. Despite the 19-year prison sentence handed down to him and his terrible conditions of detention, Yulia Navalnaïa remained hopeful. “I hope and I believe that I will see Alexei free. Nothing is impossible when you are in love,” she said in 2023 to the German daily Der Spiegel.
As his standoff with the Kremlin became more and more risky, the opponent said he would be incapable of it without his wife. His last public message was a note of love, for Valentine’s Day: “I feel that you are with me every second.” Unlike Vladimir Putin, whose private life is a state secret, the couple highlighted their daily life as a family.
“She becomes a political figure”
Yulia Navalnaïa has therefore become, like her husband, a public figure. His notoriety even pushed some of Alexeï Navalny’s supporters to dream of a political future for him, even before he was behind bars. She has so far brushed aside this idea, describing herself as a mother and a companion above all. But many wonder who else could unite a decimated opposition, driven into exile and deprived of a leader, one month before the presidential election which should once again cement the power of Vladimir Putin after years of repression of any dispute.
When Alexeï Navalny was in prison, Yulia Navalnaïa assured that she would not follow in the footsteps of Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, who became the leader of the opposition in Belarus when her husband was placed in detention. But for political scientist Tatiana Stanovaïa, interviewed by AFP, “Youlia Navalnaïa like it or not, she is becoming a political figure”.
In 2021, a relative of the Kremlin’s sworn enemy said nothing else with of the world : “Youlia has long been satisfied with playing her traditional role, supporting Alexei and keeping the family running,” he said. “The poisoning pushed her to the front line. She had to make difficult decisions, Alexei Navalny’s team even had to rely on her. She showed that she could handle that too. That l propelled her into another dimension, whether she liked it or not.”
“Waiter, bring us some vodka, let’s go home”
Yulia Navalnaïa found herself propelled into the spotlight in 2020. She had seen Alexeï Navalny narrowly escape death, poisoned in Siberia by a “Novichok-type” substance, a powerful nerve agent, according to a European analysis. She had managed to get him to leave Russia for Germany while he was in a coma, in the hands of local doctors who refused to let him leave. “Every moment when we were there, I said to myself I have to get him out” she said, accusing doctors of dragging out the process until he died or the neurotoxic product was no longer detectable.
This moment “transformed her from a supporting figure into a main character,” Alexandre Baounov, of the Carnegie Center in Moscow, commented to AFP in 2021. The episode also earned her the title of “Heroine of the Year” from the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta. “Youlia, you saved me”, Alexeï Navalny will thank her after coming out of the coma.
“Her role has changed. From a politician, she becomes a politician herself. She has charisma and charm, she is a creative, courageous person, and she can easily replace her husband if necessary,” noted in 2021 to AFP political scientist Konstantin Kalatchev.
In January 2021, Yulia Navalnaya played an important role when the couple returned to Moscow knowing full well that this trip would end in prison. “Boy, bring us some vodka, we’re going home,” she said on the plane, filmed alongside Alexei Navalny, reenacting a scene from a cult Russian film. The couple were separated at passport control upon arrival. After a quick hug with her husband, taken away by the police and whom she would never see free again, she was greeted at the airport by a crowd shouting “Youlia!”.
While getting back on his feet in Germany after his poisoning, 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 committed against your family then, of course, it radicalizes you,” he explained. To the point of taking up the torch of the fight against Vladimir Putin, from outside Russia?