Sunak and Von der Leyen express outrage at Navalny death

London — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expressed their outrage at the death of Alexei Navalny, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Sunday.

“The prime minister and president Von der Leyen expressed their outrage at the death of Alexei Navalny, and underscored the utmost importance of holding those responsible within the Russian system to account,” the spokesperson said in a statement after the leaders spoke.

On Saturday, Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers called on Russia to fully clarify the circumstances of the death of Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable domestic opponent.

“They expressed their outrage at the death in detention of Alexei Navalny, unjustly sentenced for legitimate political activities and his fight against corruption,” according to a statement released by Italy, which is currently chairing the G7 wealthy nations.

The foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US met in Munich on Saturday.

British foreign secretary David Cameron said Britain would take action over Navalny’s death, though he did not say what it would entail.

Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the Polar Wolf Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence, the prison service said.

Thousands of people protested in 32 Russian cities after the announcement. More than 400 people were detained, according to rights group OVD-Info, which reports on freedom of assembly in Russia. It was the largest wave of arrests at political events in Russia since September 2022, when more than 1,300 were arrested at demonstrations against a “partial mobilisation” of reservists for Putin’s military campaign in Ukraine.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, would attend an EU foreign affairs council meeting on Monday. “EU Ministers will send a strong message of support to freedom fighters in Russia and honour the memory of Alexi @navalny,” Borrell said in a statement on X. 

Soon after the news broke, Yulia Navalnaya spoke to leaders at the Western security gathering in Munich, blaming Putin for her husband’s death.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said there should be a thorough investigation into Navalny’s death before making any accusations.

Alexander Litvinenko’s wife, Marina, said Yulia Navalnaya needed to keep her husband’s voice alive. Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer and defector who had become a vocal critic of the Kremlin, died in 2006 three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel. 

The European Court of Human Rights found in 2021 that Russia was responsible for the assassination.

“The international community has to be more strong and not make only good words to say how they regret and sympathise to Navalny family, but take real action,” Litvinenko said.

Reuters