‘If they decide to kill me…’: What Putin’s critic Alexei Navalny, Russia’s Mandela, said in video message before death
poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-made toxin. Navalny gained respect for choosing to come back to Russia in 2021 from Germany. Putin did not agree with a report claiming Russian agents tried to kill Navalny.
"If someone had wanted to poison him, they would have finished him off," he said. The Kremlin has rejected claims by Navalny about corruption and Putin's wealth. "Corruption is the foundation of contemporary Russia, it is the foundation of Mr Putin’s political power," Navalny told Reuters in an interview in 2011.
Navalny's group is banned, and many of his top supporters have left Russia for Europe. Russian officials label Navalny as an extremist controlled by the US CIA, who aimed to stir revolution to weaken Russia for Western control. Navalny got arrested many times for leading protests and faced several legal cases for corruption, embezzlement and fraud.
Navalny argued that all cases against him had been politically driven. In 2023, Navalny received an additional 19-year sentence. The Kremlin has said President Putin was informed about Navalny’s death.
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