What is the Russian response to the passing of Alexei Navalny?

Even though Alexei Navalny hasn’t made as many headlines lately, many in Russia were shocked to learn of his death on Friday.
Hundreds of people showed support for the nation’s most well-known opposition leader, who was detained in an Arctic prison colony at the time of his death, by placing flowers at memorials remembering others who have suffered political persecution.
In Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, where Navalny is seen as the nation’s main public adversary, expressing sadness publicly is not without risk.

“These things take place.”
The reaction from the Kremlin was swift but harsh: Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, said medical professionals were looking into Navalny’s cause of death. Putin refrained from addressing Navalny specifically and didn’t release a comment. Though Navalny’s opposition activities have earned him recognition on a global scale, the Kremlin nevertheless called him just “a blogger.”
Hardly a few Russian leaders have ventured to openly discuss Navalny’s passing. The deputy chairman of the Duma’s foreign affairs committee, Vladimir Dzhabarov, simply denied rumors that the opposition leader may not have passed away naturally. “Russia had no reason to harm Navalny’s health—absolutely no reason,” he said. “This man was carrying out his sentence. He had a few years left in him. It seemed like a sad accident to me. These things do occur.”
The Kremlin takes issue with the foreign reaction.
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, took advantage of the occasion to attack “the West.”
“The West is already drawing its conclusions, but there are still no results from the forensic investigation,” she added, citing criticism of Putin and Russian politics from a number of international lawmakers.

Eva Merkachova, a member of the Russian Human Rights Council, was the only one from inside Russia to offer cautious criticism. She expressed worry that Navalny’s solitary confinement penalties had negatively impacted his health while he was incarcerated. “These are very harsh, even brutal prison conditions,” she said.
“Our son was vibrant and in good health.”
The family of Navalny was incensed. At the Munich Security Conference, Yulia Navalnaya, his widow, took the stage and accused Putin of being directly to blame for her husband’s death.
Ludmila, Navalny’s mother, wrote on Facebook, saying, “I would like not to receive any condolences. On February 12th, we paid a visit to our son, who was incarcerated. He was vibrant, robust, and alive.”
In the independent Russian media, physician Alexander Polupan also offered his thoughts on Navalny’s health. Following the politician’s poisoning in 2020, he examined him, and in the years that followed, he updated Navalny’s followers on his health.

According to a report by the Russian official channel RT, Polupan is not convinced that a blood clot was the cause of his death. His general health was obviously bad, as it would be for anybody detained in such appalling circumstances. But this explanation seems strange to me in some way,” he said.
Ekaterina Schulmann, a political scientist, told DW that she doesn’t think Navalny passed away due to natural causes, citing a court hearing he just attended. “He didn’t sound weak; rather, his voice belonged to a robust, vigorous guy. You may hear whether someone is hungry, has heart issues, or has pneumonia. He was in good health and had plenty of energy a week ago. For us, the only possible outcome is murder.”

Putin is blamed by Kremlin detractors.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an opposition leader who was exiled and a former competitor of Vladimir Putin, claimed that the Kremlin was solely to blame, saying that “Vladimir Putin bears responsibility for Alexei’s premature death, first poisoning him and later putting him in prison.”
Edgars Rinkevic, the president of Latvia, had the same viewpoint: “No matter what you think of Alexei Navalny as a politician, he was brutally murdered by the Kremlin.”

According to Russian political analyst Abbas Galyamov, the Russian government is instilling terror in the electorate before the presidential elections by using Navalny’s passing as leverage over anyone who would still dare to oppose them. In less than a month, fewer individuals will cast ballots in the presidential elections.
He said that while this might undermine the validity of the outcomes, Moscow finds it to be very acceptable. “This legitimacy doesn’t matter to them,” Galyamov said on the Telegram network.
conflicting stories

Russian authorities may then claim, as political scientist Vladimir Pastukhov theorized on Telegram, that Navalny’s death was an accident. But in the future, “he was killed by Russia’s enemies” may take the place of this story in the absence of a clear reason.
“There will be a serious external investigation into whether Navalny was poisoned in prison by other opposition members with the support of the CIA, MI6, and MOSSAD,” he said.
The official version of events, according to the majority of Kremlin-aligned political scientists, is that Navalny’s death was an accident. In fact, some have mentioned a “Western trail,” bringing up the events surrounding opposition lawmaker Boris Nemtsov’s assassination, which occurred not far from the Kremlin.

Political scholar Marat Bashirov observed, “Every time there is a light at the end of the war or our victory looms, one of the Western secret services organizes a terrorist attack or a strange death.”
“A goal that is out of reach”
At least some pro-government commentators now acknowledge that Navalny was a guy with strong determination who had the potential to become a “Russian Mandela.”
According to independent Moscow political analyst Alexander Kynev, Navalny’s ultimate freedom was determined solely by his own willpower. According to Kynev, Navalny is now a part of Russian political history, as he posted on Telegram. In the future, he predicted, airports, streets, and universities would bear Navalny’s name.
“Choices are always made in life,” Kynev said. Navalny chose “a goal beyond the horizon” rather than his family or job.