Alexei Navalny, the fiercest critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in prison Friday, according to international media reports citing Russian prison officials.
However, there has not yet been any official confirmation of those reports from those close to Navalny, including his legal team.
Navalny, 47, has been serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism in a “special regime” penal colony above the Artic Circle. He was moved there in December 2023. His allies have labelled the sentences against him as politically motivated.
Russia’s Federal Prison Service said in a statement that Navalny felt unwell after a walk on Friday and lost consciousness. An ambulance arrived to try to rehabilitate him, but he died, The Associated Press and Reuters reported, citing those Russian officials.
Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the politician’s team had no confirmation of his death so far, and that his lawyer was travelling to the town where he was held.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday Putin has been told about Navalny’s death, and Russia’s Investigate Committee said it has launched a procedural probe into the death.
Global News has reached out to Global Affairs Canada for comment.
His allies decried his December prison transfer to the Arctic Circle as yet another attempt to force Navalny into silence. The remote region is notorious for long and severe winters.
Navalny had been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption, organized major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office. He had since received three prison sentences, all of which have been widely criticized as politically motivated.
International reaction to the news has been swift.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday at the Munich Security Conference he was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the reports of Navalny’s death.
“We need to establish all the facts, and Russia needs to answer all the serious questions about the circumstances of his death,” he said.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on X on Friday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was “brutally murdered by the Kremlin.”
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on X that “Alexei Navalny paid with his life for his resistance to a system of oppression.”
“His death in a penal colony reminds us of the reality of Vladimir Putin’s regime. To his family, his loved ones and the Russian people, France presents its condolences,” Sejourne said.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom called the news “dreadful.”
“If the report about his death in Russian prison is true it represents another terrible crime by Putin’s regime,” Billstrom said on X.
“The ruthlessness against Navalny shows again why it is necessary to continue to fight against authoritarianism.”
— with files from Reuters and The Associated Press