EU foreign policy minister Josep Borrell announced last Monday that sanctions will be imposed on unnamed 30 people and organisations deemed responsible for Navalny’s death. The announcement was made after Vladimir Putin proclaimed himself as the reelected president of Russia based on the result of a recently held election.
While the governments of North Korea, India and China sent congratulatory messages to Putin, Western governments deem the election as unconstitutional and unfair.
Arctic Prison Declared Navalny’s Death as Due to Natural Causes
According to the autopsy report and death certificate released by the authorities of the Arctic prison that held Alexei Navalny, the prominent Russian political activist died of natural causes.last February 16, 2024.
However, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya believes that Putin ordered him killed. Details of the 47-year old political activist’s death were not immediately available since authorities claimed that investigations and an autopsy were being conducted.
Yet other Russian opposition leaders and critics of Putin believed that authorities intentionally delayed the release of Navalny’s body, as a way to suppress the potential outpouring of sympathy for Navalny prior to the forthcoming sham election. Navalny’s remains were released to his mother two weeks later after investigators supposedly performed a chemical analysis.
Previous Attempt to Kill Navalny by Way of Poisoning
Apparently, the purported need for a chemical analysis stemmed from the 2020 poisoning incident that almost killed Navalny. The activist had accused the Russian security agencyFSB of poisoning him with Novichok, a nerve agent locally manufactured in Russia.
The poison was analysed by a European lab in Germany, which identified it as the same poison used to kill Sergei Skripal and his wife Yulia. Skripal was a former high ranking official of the Russian military, but doubled as a spy for the British Intelligence Agency.
Navalny was later arrested upon his return to Russia In January 2021.