Navalny's wife doubts her husband's death, claiming information comes from Russian state sources only

ANKARA

Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, said on Friday that she is uncertain whether she should believe reports about her husband's death.

Navalnaya expressed her skepticism at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, saying all information about her husband's death is coming only from Russian state sources.

“I don’t know whether to believe those terrible news that we are getting only from the state sources,” she said.

If the information is true, she will hold Russian President Vladimir Putin, his friends and the government accountable, Navalnaya said.

“I would like Putin to know that he, all his encirclement, friends, his government will bear responsibility for what they have done with our country, with my family and husband,” she said.

She called on the global community to unite and support her stance.

The Russian penitentiary service said on Friday that opposition figure Alexey Navalny, 47, died in a prison colony while serving his sentence.

The service said in a statement that Navalny lost consciousness after a walk in the Arctic Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, where the colony is located.

Russian authorities conducted several inspections to determine the facts surrounding Navalny's death.

Navalny was arrested in Jan. 2021 after being treated for poisoning in a German hospital. Western countries and Navalny himself blamed Russia for the poisoning, a claim the Kremlin denies.

In August, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for extremism and other crimes. He was already serving an 11-year and five-month jail sentence for fraud.