Russia has recently included Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late opposition campaigner Aleksei A. Navalny, on its official terrorist and extremist list. This decision comes shortly after she was charged in a Moscow court for allegedly “participating in an extremist community.”
Rosfinmonitoring, the Russian government body dedicated to combating money laundering and terrorism financing, has officially added Yulia Navalnaya to the list as an extremist. This designation allows Russian authorities to freeze bank accounts and impose restrictions on other financial activities of the named individual. Yulia Navalnaya, who left Russia in 2021, has vowed to carry on her husband’s work following his death in a Russian prison colony located north of the Arctic Circle in February.
She has publicly accused Russian President Vladimir V. Putin of orchestrating her husband’s murder and has been urging Western officials to devise new strategies to counter Mr. Putin’s regime. Yulia Navalnaya’s inclusion on the list occurred shortly after the Basmanny District Court in Moscow issued a warrant for her arrest and announced her placement on the country’s international wanted list. The court did not provide specific details regarding the charges, except mentioning her alleged participation in an extremist community.
Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was deemed an extremist group by Russian authorities in 2021, leading to its relocation outside the country to continue its mission of exposing corruption within Mr. Putin’s inner circle by unveiling their extravagant assets like yachts and mansions. Currently operating from Lithuania, the foundation’s advisory board is led by Yulia Navalnaya, who also serves as a member of its board of directors.
Yulia Navalnaya dismissed the charges against her in a defiant statement, emphasizing, “Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal.” She asserted that Mr. Putin belongs in a Russian prison, not in a comfortable cell in The Hague, directly linking her husband’s death to the Russian president.
Following Alexei Navalny’s death, which Russian state media initially attributed to a blood clot, the head of the country’s foreign intelligence service later claimed it was due to “natural causes.” Mr. Putin referred to the incident as an “unfortunate event.” Navalny’s family was denied access to his body in the aftermath of his death, preventing an independent autopsy.
The Russian opposition figure had survived a nerve agent poisoning in 2020 during a trip to Siberia, which the U.S. government concluded was an assassination attempt by Russia’s Federal Security Service. After receiving medical treatment in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia only to be swiftly arrested. Throughout his time in Russian custody, he faced deteriorating conditions, including repeated stints in punitive solitary confinement cells without adequate heating. It was in one such cell that he passed away.
Reporting contributed by Oleg Matsnev.
