A Russian court has issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of former opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a key dissident living in exile.
The arrest warrant has been issued based on charges of alleged participation in an extremist organisation and comes as part of a wider Kremlin crackdown on its opposition.
Navalnaya, who lives in an undisclosed location outside of Russia, has vowed to continue the work of her late husband Alexei Navalny, who was Vladimir Putin’s main opponent before his death earlier this year. Navalny died in an Arctic prison in February.
Russian authorities said he died of natural causes but Navalnaya accused the Russian state of poisoning her husband and hiding his body until the traces of poison had disappeared.
Navalny had returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had undergone treatment after being poisoned with a nerve agent called Novichok. He was arrested shortly after his arrival and was given a 19-year sentence on extremism charges. Navalny said the charges were politically motivated.
Posting on social media following the arrest warrant, Navalnaya urged others to focus on the fight against Putin.
“When you write about this, please do not forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal,” she wrote.
“His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cozy cell with a TV, but in Russia – in the same colony and the same 2 by 3 meter cell in which he killed Alexei.”
Following Navalny’s death in February, Navalnaya, who is an economist, posted a powerful nine minute video to social media, noting “…the most important thing we can do for Alexei and for ourselves is to continue to fight.”
“I shouldn’t have been in this place, I shouldn’t be recording this video. There should have been another person in my place. But that person was killed by Vladimir Putin,” she said.
“[By] killing Alexei, [Putin had] killed half of me, half of my heart and my soul. But I still have the other half, and it tells me that I have no right to give up.”
In July, Navalnaya was appointed as the new Chair of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. She was recognised for her “unwavering commitment to democratic principles and human rights and for her steadfast support” of her husband.
“As someone who has personally witnessed the threat dictatorships pose to our loved ones and the world at large, I am deeply honored to take on the role of Chair of the Human Rights Foundation,” she said at the time.
“In these challenging times, defending fundamental rights and freedoms is more crucial than ever. The mission of HRF is close to my heart, and I look forward to helping advance it.”