The widow of Alexei A. Navalny said Monday that she will continue her husband’s work to create a democratic and free Russia, presenting herself as a political force for the first time and calling on his followers to rally to her side.
Mr Navalny’s sudden death in prison, announced by Russian authorities on Friday, has left a void in the Russian opposition. His supporters had wondered whether his wife, Yulia Navalny – who has long shied away from the limelight – could step in to fill the void.
In a video released on Monday, Ms Navalnya, 47, indicated she would. She said she was appearing on her late husband’s YouTube channel for the first time to tell his followers that the most important thing they could do to honor his legacy was to “fight more desperately and fiercely than before.”
“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny and continue to fight for our country,” Ms Navalnaya said. “I invite you to stand by me, to participate not only in the sadness and endless pain that has enveloped us and will not let us go. I ask you to share my rage – to share my rage, anger and hatred for those who dared to kill our future.”
The nearly nine-minute video was created as an introduction to a new leader of the pro-democracy movement against President Vladimir V. Putin. It comes at a time when those opposed to the Kremlin strongman, who have tried to unite, feel more frustrated than ever.
Ms Navalnya has often pushed back suggestions that she enter politics, telling German magazine Der Spiegel last year that “I don’t think this is an idea I want to play with”.
On Monday she presented a different face in her bid to rally her husband’s followers.
“I know it feels impossible for us to do anything else, but we must — we must unite in one mighty fist and strike with it this crazy regime, Putin, his cronies and his thugs in uniform, these thieves and murderers who they have crippled our country,” he said.
Her video was released hours after Mr Navalny’s aides said the opposition leader’s mother had been unable to see her son’s body. Mr. Navalny’s representative, Kira Yarmysh, he said authorities had told his mother that the investigation into his death “has been extended” for an undetermined amount of time.
“By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul,” said Ms Navalnaya, Mr Navalny’s widow. “But I have another half left and he tells me I have no right to give up.”
Her emotional message came as Mr Navalny’s mother, still in Russia, tried again on Monday unsuccessfully to see and retrieve her son’s body in an Arctic town near the prison where he died last week.
“One of the lawyers was literally pushed away” from the morgue in the Arctic where Mr Navalny’s body is believed to be, Ms Yarmysh said. one post on social networking platform X. She added another post“They lie, they buy time for themselves and they don’t even hide it.”
Russian investigators opened an investigation into the cause of Mr Navalny’s death shortly after the complaint, a procedural move that allows them to hold the body longer than normal.
Ivan Zhdanov, head of Mr Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, said the delay meant Russian officials were “cleaning up the tracks of their crime”.
“They are waiting for the wave of hatred and anger towards them to calm down,” Mr Zhdanov said in a post on Telegram, the messaging app.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov rejected any suggestion of foul play on Monday, saying the investigation into Mr. Navalny’s death was continuing “in accordance with Russian law.”
More than 50,000 people have signed a petition to Russian investigators calling for the release of Mr Navalny’s body, a campaign launched by a Russia-based human rights group, OVD-Info.
Mourners brought flowers to makeshift memorials across Russia, paying tribute to Mr Navalny in an act of grief that has also served as a form of protest in a country where even the mildest dissent can risk detention.
Russian authorities have tried to play down the scale of public mourning over Mr Navalny’s death. Flowers were quickly removed from the memorials and police have arrested hundreds of people.
Anton Trojanowski contributed to the report.
