The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has offered new evidence for what most already suspect: The Kremlin murdered her husband.
Count it as one more reason Russia will be far better off when Vladimir Putin no longer holds the reins of power.
On Wednesday, Yulia Navalnaya reported that samples from her husband’s body, sent to two labs outside of Russia after his death in an Arctic penal colony in 2024, both indicate that Alexei had been poisoned.
That’s a lot more believable than Russian authorities’ claim that he died of “sudden death syndrome.”
By refusing to stay quiet, Yulia is putting her own life and freedom on the line: Alexei was just the latest of many fierce and fearless Putin critics to end up imprisoned, dead or both over the years.
What got them killed wasn’t just fighting for democracy or advocating for reform, though both are surefire ways to attract the attention of Moscow.
It was imagining a Russia without Vladimir Putin, an offense the tyrant ( who’s recently mused about the possibilities of eternal life via organ-swapping) can’t seem to tolerate.
Putin loudly claims to be fighting for Russia’s “historic destiny,” even as his rule is sending the country down the drain.
The economy is in shambles; selling oil to China and India keep it limping along as the only other industry to prosper is military manufacturing.
Birth rates are so abysmal that the government is trying to bribe school-aged girls to have babies — even as they watch so many of their friends, fathers, boyfriends and brothers get shipped off to Putin’s meat-grinder war on Ukraine, never to come home.
What has Putin done for Russia, except drive it to its knees?
He and his cronies have looted their homeland, amassing mind-boggling amounts of wealth while their people suffer.
No wonder voices for change keep springing up faster than the Kremlin can snuff them out.
Alexei Navalny is gone, but his dream of a thriving Russia, unshackled by a self-serving dictator, lives on.
Putin can keep killing off his critics, but his days in power are still numbered.
The sooner his disastrous reign ends, the better for Russia — and the world.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
