Elon Musk’s X has restored Yulia Navalnaya’s account after “mistakenly suspending” the profile of the wife of Alexei Navalny on Tuesday, following his death in a Russian jail.
It came as Russia initiated a new criminal case against the Kremlin critic’s brother, Oleg Navalny, Tass reported. The state news agency did not say under which article of the criminal code the case had been opened. He was previously convicted of fraud in a case critics said was designed to pile pressure on his brother.
Meanwhile, Navalny’s 69-year-old mother Lyudmila Navalnaya issued an appeal directly to Vladimir Putin from outside the Arctic penal colony where her son died.
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“Let me finally see my son. I demand that Alexei’s body be released immediately so that I can bury him in a humane way,” she said, after authorities said his body would not be released for a fortnight.
Mr Navalny’s wife, Yulia, has accused the authorities of holding his body to wait for traces of “yet another Putin’s Novichok” to leave his body — referring to the military nerve agent used to poison him years ago.
EU summons Russian envoy, demands independent investigation into Navalny’s death
The European Union summoned Russia’s representative to the EU and called for an independent international investigation into the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the EU’s diplomatic service said on Tuesday.
It said Michael Siebert, a senior official in the European External Action Service, also urged Russia to release Navalny’s body to his family without further delay at the meeting with Kirill Loginov, Russia’s acting permanent representative to the EU.
A person lights a candle by a portrait of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian Arctic prison, placed at the entrance of the Chancery of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Pristina on 20 February 2024
(AFP via Getty Images)
“The EU side conveyed the EU’s outrage over the death of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, for which the ultimate responsibility lies with President (Vladimir) Putin and the Russian authorities,” it said.
Mr Siebert “called upon Russia to allow an independent and transparent international investigation into circumstances” of Navalny’s death, it added.
The Kremlin has denied involvement in Navalny’s death and says Western allegations that Putin was responsible are unacceptable. Russia’s Investigative Committee says it has launched a procedural investigation into the death, and the Kremlin has said it does not bow to EU demands.
Namita Singh21 February 2024 05:30
More than 60,000 requests issued for Kremlin to release Navalny’s body, monitoring group says
Since Alexei Navalny’s death, about 400 people have been detained across in Russia as they tried to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles, according to OVD-Info, a group which monitors political arrests.
Authorities cordoned off some of the memorials to victims of Soviet repression across the country that were being used as sites to leave makeshift tributes to Navalny. Police removed the flowers at night, but more keep appearing.
Peskov said police were acting “in accordance with the law” by detaining people paying tribute to Navalny.
Over 60,000 people have submitted requests to the government asking for Navalny’s remains to be handed over to his relatives, OVD-Info said.
People came to lay flowers for Alexei Navalny at the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to political repression in Moscow
(AFP via Getty Images)
Namita Singh21 February 2024 05:20
Navalny issued chilling warning about second Trump term
In one 3 December letter to Evgeny Feldman, a photographer who covered his attempted run for president in 2018 and now lives in exile in Latvia, Navalny wrote that he feared that if anything should happen to president Joe Biden – a distinct possibility, he felt, given the American’s advanced age – “Trump will become president”.
To Navalny, a second Mr Trump term was a “really scary” prospect for the wider world.
Trump ‘needs Putin’s help and can’t risk angering him’
Donald Trump’s reaction to Alexei Navalny’s death suggests he “can’t risk” angering Russia’s Vladimir Putin, according to former Republican representative Liz Cheney.
Ms Cheney noted on X on Monday afternoon that “Donald Trump still won’t condemn the [Aleksei] Navalny killing or blame Putin. At the same time, Trump is claiming Putin-style tyrannical immunity in his US Supreme Court briefs”.
Namita Singh21 February 2024 05:00
White House calls for ‘complete transparency’ over Navalny’s death
The White House on Tuesday issued a statement calling for “complete transparency” from Russia on how Alexei Navalny died last Friday.
“Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr Navalny’s death,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.
The US embassy in Moscow has been seeking more information about Navalny’s death, Mr Kirby said, “but it’s difficult to get to a point where you can be confident in what the Russians would say about his death”.
Namita Singh21 February 2024 04:50
Russia sanctions will be broad, including sources of economic revenue, White House says
The US will issue fresh sanctions on Russia that will cover a range of items, including the country’s defence and industrial bases along with sources of revenue for the economy, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
The sanctions come in the wake of the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the two-year Ukraine war.
This grab taken from video shows flowers and a portrait of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny that Lyudmila Navalnaya, mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, put to pay tribute to her son at the at the memorial to victims of political repression, in Salekhard, 1,937 km northeast of Moscow, Russia
(AP)
Namita Singh21 February 2024 04:40
White House preparing ‘major sanctions’ against Russia
The White House said it is preparing additional “major sanctions” against Russia in response to Alexei Navalny’s death, with National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby saying the new package would be unveiled on Friday. He declined to detail them or share how they would expand on the already stiff measures the US and its allies have put on Russia.
Mr Kirby said only that the sanctions, which coincide with the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will be “specifically supplemented with additional sanctions regarding Mr Navalny’s death”.
Namita Singh21 February 2024 04:30
Arrests of Navalny mourners ‘in accordance with law’, says Peskov
Since Alexei Navalny’s death, about 400 people have been detained across Russia as they tried to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests.
Authorities cordoned off some of the memorials to victims of Soviet repression across the country that were being used as sites to leave makeshift tributes to Navalny. Police removed the flowers at night, but more keep appearing.
Women lay flowers at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression to pay respect to Alexei Navalny in St Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, 20 February 2024
(AP)
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said police were acting “in accordance with the law” by detaining people paying tribute to Navalny.
Over 60,000 people have submitted requests to the government asking for Navalny’s remains to be handed over to his relatives, OVD-Info said.
Namita Singh21 February 2024 04:10
Navalnaya urges EU not to recognise results of looming Russian elections
In her speech on Monday to the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council, Yulia Navalnaya urged EU leaders not to recognize the results of next month’s presidential election in Russia, to sanction more of Vladimir Putin’s allies, and to help Russians who flee the country.
A copy of her remarks was released Tuesday by Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh.
Andy Gregory21 February 2024 03:50
Biden slams Trump for failing to criticise Putin over Navalny’s death
Joe Biden issued a blistering critique of Donald Trump’s Truth Social post on Navalny’s death, saying, “Why does Trump always blame America? (Russian president Vladimir) Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Why can’t Trump just say that?”
The US president and other western leaders have blamed Mr Putin for Alexei Navalny’s death, as has Nikki Haley, who trails far behind Mr Trump as his sole remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination.
President Joe Biden arrives at Los Angeles International Airport, Tuesday, 20 February 2024, in Los Angeles
(AP)
The Kremlin has denied involvement in Navalny’s death and said Western claims that Mr Putin was responsible are unacceptable.
Namita Singh21 February 2024 03:30