February 16, 2024

Navalny allegedly went for a walk -- in -20° weather. Via Reuters, this sad news:

MOSCOW, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died on Friday after collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a long jail term, the Russian prison service said.

Navalny, by far Russia's most famous opposition leader, rose to prominence more than a decade ago by lampooning the elite class round President Vladimir Putin and voicing allegations of corruption on a vast scale. He was 47.

Via the Times:

Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s longtime chief of staff, says he’s not ready to believe the news about Navalny’s death. “We have no reason to believe state propaganda,” Volkov wrote on the social platform X. “If this is true, then it’s not ‘Navalny died,’ but ‘Putin killed Navalny,’ and only that. But I don’t trust them one penny.”

On Russian state television, the host of a political talk show read out the prison service’s statement reporting Navalny’s death. “In any case, the most careful investigation will be done,” the host, Vyacheslav Nikonov, said on air.

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