During Friday, Russian information comes that Navalny has died in captivity. However, many question the Russian narrative that he may have died of natural medical causes.
One who bluntly claims that he was murdered on the orders of Vladimir Putin is Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs:
“Whatever you think and feel about the politician Alexei Navalny, he has just been brutally murdered by the Kremlin. These are facts and something that everyone must know about the nature of the Russian regime,” he writes on X.
– It is obvious that Navalny was killed by Putin, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is in Berlin on Friday and is meeting Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
– He has now paid for his courage with his life, says Scholz according to AFP.
“Russia will have to answer”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says he is “deeply saddened and concerned” by the regime critic’s fate.
– We need to find out all the facts and Russia will have to answer a series of very serious questions about the circumstances surrounding his death, he says according to Reuters.
Britain’s Rishi Sunak called the news of his death “a great tragedy for the Russian people”.
Billström: “Reckless treatment”
Sweden’s foreign minister Tobias Billström also regrets the “terrible” news.
“If the reports of his death are true, it represents another serious crime committed by Putin’s regime. The ruthless treatment of Navalny shows once again why it is necessary to fight against all authoritarian regimes,” he writes on X.
Ministers and leaders in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic tune in. EU Council President Charles Michel writes that Navalny “fought for freedom and democracy”.
“For these ideals he had to pay the ultimate price. The EU holds the Russian regime solely responsible for his tragic death.”
The Kremlin denies all the accusations, which it says are baseless.