In Russia she has always been considered the First Lady of the opposition, being married to Alexei Navalny, President Putin’s main antagonist. But who is Yulia Navalnaya who today takes up her husband’s legacy?
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Who is Yulia Navalnaya
Yulia Borisovna Navalnya was born in Moscow on 24 July 1976. Her father was a scientist (Boris Aleksandrovich Abrosimov), while her mother worked for the Ministry of Light Industry. When she was a child, her parents divorced, and her mother remarried an employee of the State Planning Committee of the USSR.
She holds a degree in International Economic Relations, also studied abroad and worked in a bank in the Russian capital. While on holiday in Turkey in the summer of 1998, she met her future husband, lawyer Alexei Navalny.
The marriage
Julia and Alexei got married in 2000 and soon became parents of two children: Daria was born in 2001, Zakhar in 2008. Also in 2000 the two joined the socio-liberal and pro-Western party Jabloko, from which they left 10 years later for Alexei’s expulsion.
Meanwhile, Navalny has become the main oppositionist in Russia, while his wife has always been considered the First Lady of the opposition.
When her husband was poisoned and risked dying in autumn 2020, she was always at his side, seeking answers both at home and abroad. Alexei was saved on that occasion, telling everyone that it was his wife who saved him, following him to Germany where they treated him for the poison he ingested.
Alexei Navalny’s legacy
When the couple returned to Russia in 2021, Alexei was arrested at border control. And he remained in prison until his death, announced on February 16, 2024.
According to what local authorities reported, he was walking and suddenly felt ill. But there are many mysteries and inconsistencies about his death.
On February 19, Yulia was appointed the new opposition leader of the Russian Federation, succeeding her husband and taking up his heavy political legacy.
“Putin killed my husband, I will continue Alexei’s work”
“Putin killed my husband.” This is what Alexei Navalny’s widow, Yulia, says in a video posted on social media. “I will continue Alexei’s work, I will continue to fight for our country. And I invite you to stand by me and share with me the hatred of those who dared to kill our future.”
“By killing my husband, Putin destroyed half of me,” continues Yulia Navalnaya. “But I still have the other half, which tells me that I have no right to give up. I intend to continue Alexei Navalny’s work: to continue fighting for our country.”
“Alexei poisoned with Novichok”
The poison used to kill Alexei Navalny would have been Novichok. This was stated by the wife of the Russian opponent, Yulia Navalnaya, quoted by Sky News UK.
According to Navalny’s widow, Russian authorities are hiding her husband’s body to allow the last traces of Novichok, a nerve agent, to leave the body.
Read also: What happened to Alexei Navalny? All the mysteries and inconsistencies about his death
