The Russian prison service reported on Friday that prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny, has died.
Navalny, imprisoned by Russia since January 2021, was moved to a penal colony, known as “Polar Wolf”, near the Arctic Circle in December last year.
He died after falling unconscious on a walk and medics were unable to revive him, according to the prison’s statement.
As the leader of the Russia of the Future party, Navalny was known around the world for his courage and his status as the most prominent opponent to Putin’s decades of rule.
Here’s why the news has sparked huge international upset – which Navalny’s own team have suggested may have been a murder.
What happened?
Navalny, 47, was being held in a Russian penal colony in Kharp, northeast of Moscow, as part of a lengthy jail term on extremist charges.
On Thursday, Navalny was seen on a video link, laughing about his lack of personal funds.
In a statement by the country’s prison agency, the officials claimed Navalny felt unwell on a walk on Friday, and then lost consciousness. He then allegedly died.
Emergency medical staff attempted to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “As far as we know, in accordance with all the existing rules the Federal Penitentiary Service is checking and establishing [what happened].”
Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya said she was not certain of his death, because “Putin and his government... lie incessantly”.
However, if he were dead, she told the Munich Security Conference that Putin and his entourage “will be punished for what they have done to our country, for what they have done to my family, for what they have done to my husband”.
Navalny’s team said a lawyer is travelling to the city to find out more, and that they had not been able to independently confirm his death yet.
His spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X: “As soon as we have some information, we will report on it.”
Reports of ill health have been surrounding Navalny for some time. In April last year, his spokesperson expressed fears he was being fed a slow-acting poison.
Why was Navalny so well-known?
Navalny became famous for publicly speaking out and documenting what he described as the corruption of Putin and his elite – claims the Kremlin denied.
He told Reuters in 2011 that he was not afraid of the Kremlin, adding: “I realise there is danger but why should I be afraid?”
But many other opposition leaders have fled Russia over the years out of fear of Putin’s system. Many of Navalny’s own allies now live in exile across Europe.
Russia has also accused Navalny of various charges over the last decade, all of which he dismissed as politically motivated.
The former lawyer was convicted for the fifth time in the summer over activities blamed on his organisation, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, and statements by his associates.
How has the international community responded to news of his death?
The reports of Navalny’s death sparked a major international response, with some leaders openly blaming Putin.
UK PM Rishi Sunak said the news was “terrible”, adding on social media: “As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life.
“My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said: “His death in a Russian prison and the fixation and fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built. Russia is responsible for this.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country is at war with Russia, also told the media: “It is obvious for me that he was killed.”
Former director of the CIA, David Petraeus, told Times Radio his death was a “tragedy”, and described Navalny as the “most courageous, most significant opponent of Vladimir Putin”.
The Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Navalny was a “victim of Russian fascism”.
He added: “He will probably be remembered as the best president of Russia that Russia will never have.”
How long has Navalny been in prison?
Navalny faced various sentences and charges over the years amid Russian accusations that he is an extremist and puppet of the US intelligence agency the CIA.
In 2013, he was sentenced to a five years imprisonment over embezzlement, despite absence of evidence pointing to any wrongdoing. He was later released, and came second in Moscow’s mayoral election.
In 2014, he was placed under house arrest, which he frequently disobeyed. He was retried in 2017 and found guilty of embezzlement.
He was then evacuated to Germany in August 2020 after being poisoned with what Western lab tests later concluded was the Novichok nerve agent.
The incident made international news – the US, the UK and other countries sanctioned top Russian officials in response.
The Kremlin denied trying to kill him and said there was no evidence he was poisoned with a nerve agent.
After he recovered, Navalny chose to return to Moscow in January 2021 – and was quickly detained by law enforcement agents, allegedly for failing to appear at a parole hearing. He was sentenced to two and a half years.
He was sentenced to a further nine years at a maximum security facility on fraud and contempt charges in March 2022.
As of February 2024, he was facing a total prison sentence which meant he would have been in jail until he was 74.
Why are some calling it murder?
Navalny’s team have not been able to confirm his death yet, calling the prison statement “state propaganda”.
But, his representatives said: “If this is true, then it’s not ‘Navalny died’, but ‘Putin killed Navalny’.”
Russian Nobel Peace laureate and newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov also told Reuters that the death was a “murder”.
Poland’s foreign minister Sikorski said: “He did nothing wrong, he was imprisoned on fake charges, and even if nobody pulled the trigger, we know it was the conditions that were created for him that killed him, and those conditions were the responsibility of president Vladimir Putin.”
Navalny continued to attack the president from behind bars – using the Anti-Corruption Foundation and his staff to post on social media – even as the Russian presidential elections are set to take place next month.
Putin is expected to clinch yet another term, having been in government since 2000 – meaning he will probably be able to stay in power until 2030.
Petraeus, former director of the CIA, also told Times Radio: “In a way, I’m surprised that he lived as long as he did. This is a country, as you know, where you don’t go near open windows or umbrellas with tips on a sunny day.”
He added that Navalny returned to Russia from Europe despite the danger “because of the principle of opposing Putin”.