The Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, a vociferous critic of President Vladimir Putin, has died, according to the jail service.
The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District stated on its website that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk on Friday and “almost immediately lost consciousness”.
Medical personnel had been summoned, but they were unable to revive Navalny, the statement continued. It claimed the cause of death was being determined.
The Kremlin declared that it lacked information about the cause of Alexei Navalny’s death. Navalny vanished in early December from a Vladimir region prison where he was serving a 30-year sentence for extremism and fraud, which he claimed were political punishment for leading the anti-Kremlin opposition in the 2010s.
Navalny, a former nationalist lawmaker who did not expect to be released during Putin’s lifetime, played a crucial part in the 2011-12 Russian protests, revealing election fraud and government corruption while also investigating Putin’s inner circle through widely seen recordings.
His political zenith came in 2013, when he ran for mayor of Moscow, contesting the perceived inequality. Navalny, who continues to irritate the Kremlin, found a Black Sea palace for Putin, properties linked to ex-President Medvedev, and relationships between a top foreign policy official and a well-known tycoon.
After surviving a 2020 novichok poisoning, Navalny faced many prison sentences when he returned to Russia in 2021, coinciding with Putin’s bid for a fifth term. Putin’s potential extension beyond 2030 looms as he changes term restrictions in 2020.
