Aleksei Navalny

The World Says Goodbye to Putin’s Chief Opponent

By Spencer Backman, Global News Editor

Aleksei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, died in prison at age 47 on Feb. 16, 2024. 

Aleksei Anatolievoch Navalny, born on the fourth of June 1976 to a military family, grew up in a variety of military towns across the Soviet Union following his father, a Red Army Officer.

He attended Law School at Friendship University in Moscow and studied economics at the Finance Academy of the Russian Federation. 

Initially working as a real estate lawyer, he started a blog for small investors about corruption issues at Russian state-owned companies. 

The financially oriented blog was controversial for accusing government insiders and Russian President Vladimir Putin himself of benefitting or allowing corruption to persist. 

In 2013, Navalny ran and lost for mayor of Moscow despite strong support from the middle class. 

He openly ran protests of Putin winning a third term as the Russian president and emerged as a leader of a newly emboldened but previously powerless Russian opposition. 

Navalny was arrested and attacked multiple times throughout his career. He was sentenced to prison terms for offenses ranging from protesting without a permit to inciting violence. Many of his followers denounced most of the charges as fabricated. 

He was barred from running for political office in Dec. 2019 and shifted to focus on investigating corruption among the Russian elite and publishing it publicly. 

Navalny published multiple expose′s detailing threats he received, ranging from long prison terms to assassination. 

An assassination attempt occurred involving a Russian born chemical agent from the Novichok family of toxins on Aug. 20, 2020. Navalny first displayed symptoms during a flight from Siberia to Moscow which made an emergency landing. He was briefly treated in Russia and later airlifted to Germany where he spent months recovering. 

The attack was widely attributed to the Russian Security Services with substantial evidence to corroborate the accusation. Russia never took official responsibility for the attempt. 

In early 2021, Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia where his arrest all but certain. 

He was sentenced to five years in prison in late 2021 and then to longer terms for various new offenses. At the time of his death the earliest possible release was set for 2031. 

He led multiple hunger strikes and continued to speak out from behind bars in court and through his supporter. 

In late 2023, he was sent to a prison in the Arctic Circle and was said to be in good health. Navalny was seen a day before his death via video link in a court hearing from prison. 

The cause of death is likely to be contested, though his supporters and foreign leaders openly cast blame for his death on Putin. 

He is survived by his wife, two children, brother and both parents.