Yulia, they will try to break you...

While many Russians were still trying to come to terms with the news of Alexei Navalny's death, hope arrived in the form of breaking news. ​

Source: Vecernji list Tuesday, 20.02.2024. | 12:24

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Tanjug/Navalny Team via AP

Namely, three days after the Russian authorities announced that the opposition politician had died in a remote, cruel prison, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, decided to take over the fight that her husband started against the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"By killing Alexei, Putin killed a part of me, a part of my heart and a part of my soul. But I still have the other half that tells me that I have no right to give up," she said in an emotional video on YouTube. "I will continue Alexei's mission," she announced.

Her statement on Monday surprised many, mostly because Yulia Navalnaya has rejected the idea of a political career for years.

Politico states that Yulia was always by her husband's side and that she helped crystallize his views. Alexei Navalny, on the other hand, has never hidden his private life, nor his devotion to his wife. And his last post on Instagram before his tragic death was an emotional message to his wife for Valentine's Day.

Alexei Navalny also once joked that Yulia was "more radical" than him.

Tanjug/Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP

There is also a report about Navalny's Novichok poisoning, when Yulia herself felt the effects of the poisoning even two months before Navalny fell ill. Journalists suspect that it was an earlier, failed attempt to eliminate the opposition leader.

As conditions in prison have become increasingly difficult for Navalny since he was last arrested and convicted, his wife has become increasingly present on the international scene over the past year.

Meanwhile, Russian state media and social media channels linked to the Kremlin are trying to discredit her, spreading different stories about her. Among those stories were reports of alleged romantic affairs, claims that her father was a KGB agent, and speculation about her alleged German citizenship, which ultimately turned out to be unfounded.

Her every public appearance has been under intense scrutiny by Russian state media, and commentators have often criticized her, accusing her of being too cheerful or acting on orders from the CIA.

"She showed great courage because it is clear that she will be the next target of the Kremlin's slanderous campaigns," Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer and longtime associate of Navalny, told Politico in exile in Berlin. "They will try to break her," he adds.

Navalny's closest allies expressed their support for Yulia on Monday, with Ivan Zhdanov, head of Navalny's anti-corruption campaign, writing that she had "taken his (Alexei's) place."