Putin warns that Alexei Navalny's death in prison will not go unpunished: Latest updates

Crowds gathered at a vigil for Alexei Navalny outside the Russian Embassy in London on Friday, February 16. You can watch the demo below.

Britain joined other Western countries in condemning the Kremlin after Russia's Federal Prison Service said in a statement that the 47-year-old politician and anti-corruption activist had died.

Videos posted on Russian social media showed groups of unidentified people overnight removing flowers honoring Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's arch enemy who died on Friday in a Russian penal colony, as police looked on.

More than 100 people were arrested in eight cities across Russia after they came to lay flowers in memory of Navalny, according to the group OVD-Info, which monitors political repression in Russia.

On Saturday, police blocked access to a memorial in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and arrested several people there as well as in another Siberian city, Surgut, OVD-Info said.

A video posted on social media from Novosibirsk showed people sticking upright red roses in the snow under the watchful eyes of police who blocked access to the memorial with tape.

In Moscow, a video showed flowers being removed overnight from a memorial near the headquarters of the Russian Federal Security Service by a large group while police watched.

But by morning more flowers appeared.

Alexei Navalny's associates stressed that they had not received independent confirmation of his death in reports from Russian prison officials.

His close ally Ivan Zhdanov said the authorities “should notify his relatives” within 24 hours, but there were no such notifications.

Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who appeared at the Munich conference, said she did not know whether to believe the official Russian announcement because “we cannot trust Putin and Putin's government. They always lie.”

“But if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around him, Putin’s friends, and his government, to know that they will be held accountable for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband. And that day will come very hard.” “Soon,” she said.

A documentary director who spent two months following Navalny before his arrest has shed light on his fateful decision to return to Russia.

“It's very easy in 20-20 hindsight to criticize this decision, especially in this regard [light] Shocking news today. But this was Navalny's decision.

“He was incredibly brave and courageous, and he was motivated by his patriotism. I think history will judge that decision for a very long time.”

Mr Rohr also offered fond and sometimes comical recollections from his time with the Opposition Leader, such as when the politician questioned his habit of drawing while he worked.

When Mr. Rohr explained that he had ADHD and that it helped him focus, Mr. Navalny turned to his wife and said: “Oh, it’s nice that we hired a director with special needs.”

Mr. Rohr described his subject as film-savvy, with a great knowledge of American television shows such as… Too badwho reflexively used humor to defuse his tension.

“He was scared that day,” Rohr said of the opposition leader’s last trip to Moscow in January 2021. “You can see it in his eyes and I hope the film captures that.”

“On the surface he shows firmness and confidence, but if you look at his eyes, it's clear that he's nervous. That's very human.”

While a wave of reactions came from international leaders after the death of Alexei Navalny, former President Donald Trump has remained silent until now, sparking criticism from his Republican rival, Nikki Haley.

Joe Biden blamed “Putin and his thugs” for the killing of Russia's largest opposition leader, but Trump on Friday continued his attack on Biden without mentioning anything about Navalny.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “America is no longer respected because we have an incompetent and weak President who does not understand what the world is thinking.”

“I am the only one who can deliver peace, prosperity and stability as I did during my first term.”

Nikki Haley, his rival in the presidential race, criticized the former president for his friendly relationship with Vladimir Putin and his silence.

“Donald Trump continues to stand with Vladimir Putin — a man who murders his political opponents, holds American journalists hostage, and has never hidden his desire to destroy America,” Haley said in an official statement.

In a separate post on Legal drama and fake polls.

Muscovites who attended a makeshift memorial service paid tribute to Navalny as a “symbol of hope” and a courageous figure.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Valeria, a tour guide, described Navalny as “a symbol of the opposition and a symbol of hope for a brighter future for Russia.”

She added: “There is a feeling now that with his death this hope dies. If there is still any hope, it is now less than it was before.”

Vladimir, a retired psychologist whose voice seemed to falter with sadness as he spoke, said Navalny was “an essential aspect of life for us.”

“His courage has been seen under many different circumstances. Of course, it is very difficult,” he said.

Other Muscovites were more optimistic. “Anything can happen in life. I think it's fate, honestly,” a woman named Tatania said, according to CNN.

A man named Mikhail expressed his happiness at Navalny's death, saying that “the enemies” of Russia must be dealt with “the sooner the better.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country temporarily received Alexei Navalny in 2020 after he was poisoned with a nerve agent, praised the Kremlin critic's courage and said his death demonstrated “what kind of regime is this?” [Russia] He is”.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Alexei Navalny,” Schultz wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“He stood for democracy and freedom in Russia, and appears to have paid with his life for his courage.

“This terrible news shows once again how Russia has changed and what kind of regime is in power in Moscow.”

Schulz spoke to the media earlier with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after signing a bilateral security agreement, where he said that he met Navalny in Berlin during his recovery period and discussed with him there the “great courage it takes to return” to his country.

Anchor Meghan McCain said: “Don't forget that Putin's favorite useful idiot, Tucker Carlson, the Kremlin propagandist, did not talk about Navalny's life when he was asked about him a few days ago.”

As former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who was forced from office by her party over her opposition to Donald Trump, told Carlson: “This is Putin’s Russia.”

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian opposition leader and former oligarch who lives in exile in London, also publicly called on Carlson to hold himself accountable.

In a statement to New York times “What happened to Navalny is horrific. The whole thing is barbaric and horrific. No decent person will defend him,” Carlson said on Friday.

He claimed that his exculpatory remarks about Mr Putin at a conference on Monday – “Every leader kills people” – were not a reference to Mr Navalny and “had nothing to do” with his death.

But his death is only the latest in a long line of critics of Vladimir Putin who have been jailed, silenced or met brutal ends over the years.

From poisonings, mysterious falls from windows and plane crashes, it appears that many of the Russian president's enemies have been targeted.

less, Alexander Butler And Gustav Kilander Look at some of the high-profile deaths and mysterious incidents involving those who have challenged the Russian leader over the years.