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It’s unlikely there’s anyone else currently in Russia who could garner as much public support as Alexei Navalny, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia said following news of the opposition leader’s death.
“I don’t see anybody of Navalny’s stature left on the stage” that isn’t imprisoned, said Michael McFaul, who served as ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014 under President Barack Obama, on MSNBC Friday.
Navalny, a fierce opposition leader to Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in a high security prison near the Arctic Circle in Russia on Friday, the federal prison service announced. His death comes a month before a presidential election, in which Putin is set to extend his more than two-decade rule and consolidate his grip on the country.
In time, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, may be able to fill the void because “she’s tough as nails, she’s very principled,” the former ambassador added.
If reports of Navalny’s death are accurate, “it’s a terrible tragedy,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NPR on Friday.
“Given the Russian government’s long and sordid history of doing harm to its opponents, that raises real and obvious questions about what happened here,” Sullivan said.
Navalny, 47, was repeatedly targeted in recent years, facing imprisonment and poisoning.
A nerve agent was found “in and on” his body in 2020, sparking international backlash and leading to the Biden administration placing new sanctions on Russia.
After recovering from the poisoning in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia in January 2021 and was immediately arrested.
“I was in touch with him right before he flew back, but he said to me, ‘Mike, this is my country. I’m not going to let this guy chase me out of it,’” McFaul said.
