The US will impose further sanctions on Russia on Friday in response to opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death in prison, while a number of European states have summoned Russian diplomats.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top political opponent died in his jail camp on Friday, according to Russian authorities. His team claims the 47-year-old was murdered.
The United States plans to publish a “major sanctions package to hold Russia accountable” and respond to the “vicious and brutal war that has now raged on for two years,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States and its allies have implemented a barrage of sanctions.
Following Navalny’s death, the European Union summoned Russia’s charge d’affaires, while Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland summoned Russian ambassadors.
Meanwhile, Italy’s deputy prime minister and former Putin supporter Matteo Salvini was chastised for claiming that it was “up to Russian doctors and judges” to decide the cause of Navalny’s death.
Return the body
Lyudmila Navalnaya, Navalny’s mother, requested Putin to “immediately” release her son’s body, a demand echoed by his widow, Yulia Navalnaya.
Lyudmila Navalnaya visited the distant IK-3 correctional colony on Saturday, the morning after his death was announced, but has since been prohibited from viewing his body.
“Let me finally see my son. I demand that Alexei’s body be released immediately so that I can bury him humanely,” she said in a video shared by his team.
According to Navalny’s associates, investigators believe his remains might be stored for “at least two weeks”.
Navalny’s team also produced a letter to Putin from Lyudmila Navalnaya, who is not a prominent figure, making the demand.
The Kremlin has refused to disclose when the body would be turned over, and Putin has remained mute about the death of his main political opponent, who has spent years unearthing and publicising official corruption.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Yulia Navalnaya’s accusation that Putin murdered her husband as “unfounded and vulgar”.
“I do not give a damn how the press secretary of a murderer comments on my words,” Navalnaya shot back on social media.
Temporary X suspension
Russia jailed hundreds of mourners in the days following Navalny’s death.
Yulia Navalnaya’s newly created account on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, was suspended for 50 minutes on Tuesday, shortly after she made comments about the Kremlin.
The firm then reactivated it without providing an explanation.
On Monday, she made an emotional video appeal on the platform, accusing Putin of killing Navalny.
She said that she will continue her husband’s struggle against the Kremlin and met with EU foreign ministers.
Her team announced on Tuesday that she has persuaded the 27-nation union not to recognise Russia’s upcoming presidential election, which is expected to extend Putin’s authority until at least 2030.
“Do not recognise this election,” Navalnaya said, according to comments published by her team on social media.
“A president who killed his main political opponent cannot be legitimate by definition,” she added.
She also urged the EU to “always make the distinction between Putin and Russia.”
‘Demonstrative revenge’
“People running from war and dictatorship are not your enemies,” she said, calling on the bloc to “help” Russians leaving their country.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled overseas when Putin launched troops into Ukraine.
The West has accused the Kremlin of being behind Navalny’s death, which occurred three years into his captivity.
Navalny’s death has shaken liberal Russians.
His imprisoned buddy Ilya Yashin, who is serving an eight and a half-year sentence for condemning the Ukraine offensive, claimed in a message from prison on Tuesday that he had “no doubt” Navalny was slain.
“I am sure that he (Putin) ordered the killing,” Yashin said in a post released on social media by his lawyers, describing it as “demonstrative revenge.”
Yashin, a significant player in the Russian opposition who was not on Navalny’s squad but was connected to him, received a term last year.
Unlike other Putin critics, he elected to remain in Russia as Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive, influenced in part by Navalny’s defiant return to the nation.