After Navalny's death, Russian journalist lives in secret and fears she will be the next victim: “I have no permanent address”
A month before Russia's presidential election that could give Vladimir Putin a fifth term in office, his main opponent died in a prison in one of the country's most remote locations.
Alexei Navalny joins the growing list of Putin opponents who die under mysterious circumstances. Reporter Sonia Bridi spoke to a Russian journalist who knew Navalny and lives in secret for fear of being the next victim.
The last living record of Putin's main opponent comes from the day before his death. Alexey Navalny appeared at an online hearing from prison. In what looked like a cage, he laughed and mocked the judge. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison and served three of them.
“He was detained for 1,124 days. Not in just any prison, but in the worst possible conditions where he was punished for bad behavior. It was constant torture. His health obviously deteriorated,” says Elena Kostyuchenko.
In an online conversation with Fantástico, Elena says she is outside Russia, but does not reveal where. It moves between countries and continents every month. The journalist works for Novaya Gazeta. The newspaper's editor was one of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winners. Six of his journalists were murdered in Russia.
“For security reasons, I don’t have a permanent address,” he says.
Navalny's death is a stark reminder of the risks he is taking. In Germany, where she was exiled, she fell ill: she had been poisoned. Suspicion fell on the Putin government. “They had orders not to arrest me or arrest me, but to kill me,” he says.
1 of 3 After Navalny's death, a Russian journalist lives in secret and fears being the next victim: “I have no permanent address” Photo: Reproduction/TV Globo After Navalny's death, a Russian journalist lives in secret and fears being the next victim to be the next victim: “No, I have a permanent residence” Photo: Reproduction/TV Globo
“It wasn’t a choice,” Elena says of Navalny’s return to Russia
Elena is still talking about the big issue surrounding Navalny's decision to return to Russia even though he knew the risks and had barely recovered from a poisoning attempt. For the journalist, “it wasn’t a choice.”
“It wasn’t a choice, like he thought about it. He said he never really talked about it, not even with his wife and her allies. It was clear to everyone that he would return. And he did,” he says.
2 of 3 After Navalny's death, a Russian journalist lives in secret and fears being the next victim: “I have no permanent address” Photo: Reproduction/TV Globo After Navalny's death, a Russian journalist lives in secret and fears being the next victim to be the next victim: “No, I have a permanent residence” Photo: Reproduction/TV Globo
In January 2021, his return was an event that the whole world took notice of. When he disembarked, he barely said goodbye to his wife and was led away. Moved from one prison to another, he spent more than 300 days in solitary confinement before his arrival at Arctic Wolf. The death was described by authorities as sudden.
Navalny's allies are not saying anything that the government considers credible. While Russians take risks by laying flowers in public places hundreds have already been arrested the family is trying to recover the body and conduct an independent investigation.
3 of 3 After Navalny's death, a Russian journalist lives in secret and fears being the next victim: “I have no permanent address” Photo: Reproduction/TV Globo After Navalny's death, a Russian journalist lives in secret and fears being the next victim to be the next victim: “No, I have a permanent residence” Photo: Reproduction/TV Globo
“My colleague at Nova Gazeta spoke to one of the prisoners and he said that preparations for the 'sudden death' had begun the night before. He was murdered. But I don't know how we can prove that if they don't.” “Hand over the body to the family,” says the journalist.
The newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europa published today that Navalny's body was in a hospital in Siberia. And that an unidentified source said he had bruises resulting from a seizure and cardiac massage to resuscitate him.
Lula commented on Navalny's death for the first time
Contrary to the United States and European countries, which blamed the Russian government for the opposition leader's death, Lula said they would have to wait for the investigation to find out the cause of his death.
Navalny's body has not yet been returned to his family.
“Let us believe that the coroners will say, 'The guy died of this or that.' So that you can make the judgement. Because otherwise you are now judging that it was the case. I don't know who ordered the murder and it was.” t. And then: will you apologize? Why this rush to accuse someone? Do you know how many years I've been waiting for the person who ordered Marielle's crime? Six. And I'm in no hurry to say that who killed it, I want to find it. When I find it, I say: “It was so and so.” I don’t want speculation,” says the President of Brazil.