by News of Aleksei A. Navalny’s death sparked condemnation across Europe on Friday, with leaders blaming Russia’s government, and specifically President Vladimir V. Putin, for the disappearance of the jailed Russian dissident.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who was in Germany on Friday for the Munich Security Conference, said Navalny “was murdered by Putin, like thousands of others who were tortured because of this one creature.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, speaking alongside Zelensky after signing a security agreement with him in Berlin, expressed dismay at reports of Navalny’s death, calling them “very depressing.”
“It’s terrible the way Russia has changed,” Scholz said.
His predecessor as chancellor, Angela Merkel, who in 2020 managed to persuade Putin to allow Navalny to be flown to Berlin for treatment after being poisoned, expressed “great dismay” at reports of the death of the leader of the opposition.
“He was a victim of Russia’s repressive state power,” Merkel said in a statement. “It is terrible that a brave and fearless voice that defended the country against her has been silenced with terrible methods.”
Throughout her 16 years in office, Merkel was considered the only Western leader capable of communicating with Putin. Despite her repeated attempts to intimidate her, she insisted that he would be more dangerous if she were isolated from her and she maintained continuous contact with him. During her last visit to Moscow as chancellor in August 2021, Merkel urged the Russian president to release Navalny, calling his detention “unacceptable.”
In France, where Zelensky also visited on Friday, President Emmanuel Macron said: “In today’s Russia, free spirits are locked up in the Gulag and sentenced to death. Anger and indignation.”
“I pay tribute to the memory of Alexeï Navalny, to his commitment and his courage,” Macron said. wrote on the social platform. “My thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and the Russian people.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose country has long been an outspoken critic of Russia’s detention of Navalny as well as its broader crackdown on dissent, called Navalny’s death “terrible.”
“As the fiercest defender of Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life,” Sunak wrote in X. “My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is an enormous tragedy ”.
Britain has had a tense relationship with Russia for years, a rift that deepened with the poisoning of two former Russian intelligence agents on British soil over the past two decades, the subsequent expulsion of Russian diplomats from Britain, and staunch British support. to Ukraine after the full-scale Russian invasion.
Other leaders echoed Mr Sunak’s sentiments.
The European Union “considers the Russian regime solely responsible for this tragic death,” Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said on social media. Navalny, he added, “fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, said Navalny had been “a strong voice for freedom.” He added: “All the facts need to be established and Russia has serious questions to answer.”
