‘DON’T GIVE UP’

Navalny’s Message From Beyond the Grave: ‘We Are Incredibly Strong’

The Russian opposition leader had urged his supporters to fight on against Vladimir Putin in the event of his death.

Given Vladimir Putin’s proclivity for knocking off his critics and political rivals, Alexei Navalny’s death always seemed a foregone conclusion after his fateful decision to return to Moscow in January 2021 after treatment in Berlin for Novichok poisoning. The Russian opposition leader, who died Friday at a penal colony in the Arctic Circle, was well aware of his likely fate—and even left a video message to his supporters in the event of his death. As featured in the 2022 documentary Navalny, the activist said it was “very obvious” that his death would be a sign of Putin’s fear. “If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to use the power, to not give up, remember that we are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes. We don’t realize how strong we actually are.” Navalny ended with a quote often ascribed to the statesman Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing—so don’t be inactive.”

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Philippe Naughton

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