Alexei Navalny, Russia's most well-known opposition leader, died on Friday after collapsing and losing consciousness in a correctional colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a lengthy prison sentence, according to the Russian prison service.
While Russian sources refuse confirmation, social media is abuzz with the news of the death of Alexei Navalny, even though Russian Embassy officials in New Delhi said, "no official confirmation yet."
β‘οΈBREAKING: Imprisoned Russian Opposition Leader ππ₯ππ±ππ’ πππ―ππ₯π§π² reportedly died, Embassy refutes#AlexeiNavalny #RestInPeace #Vygr pic.twitter.com/P9tqYWpzvJ— Vygr (@Vygrofficial) February 16, 2024
Who was Alexei Navalny?
Navalny was a significant figure in Russia's split opposition, and his fans compared him to Nelson Mandela, who expected him to be released from prison and govern the country. He became well-known for his writings that exposed Russia's pervasive corruption and called out the nation's leaders as "crooks and thieves."
In the 2000s, he took part in Russian nationalist marches and exhibited anti-immigrant sentiments, which led to his expulsion from the liberal Yabloko opposition party in 2007. During the anti-Putin demonstrations in December 2011, he was one of the first people arrested. In 2013, he stood for mayor of Moscow and received 27% of the vote despite receiving little publicity from the official media.
In August 2020, Navalny managed to survive a poisoning that was subsequently linked to an attempt to use the nerve toxin Novichok. When Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated for a nerve agent poisoning in Siberia, he won respect from everyone around the world. But when he arrived, he was taken into custody right away. His sentence in a prison colony spanned more than 11 years.
Image Source: X(Twitter)/multiple sources
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