DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP
Alexei Navalny here in 2019, a few months before his arrest in Russia.
INTERNATIONAL – These images are among the last to show Alexei Navalny alive shortly before his arrest. A never-broadcast video of an interview between the Russian opponent and a European elected official in December 2020 was published exclusively this Wednesday, March 6, by the French media Libération and LCI.
“I think if they killed me, it wouldn't change anything because there are other people who are ready to replace me,” Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony in February, said in this interview You can see below.
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“They (his teams, editor's note) know how to work without me, because in fact I spend a lot of time in prison every year and they are used to working without me. The organization would exist and continue to function, but of course it would be more difficult psychologically and more motivated for the teams,” he said, adding: “But there are other people who can lead.”
An interview as part of the investigation into his poisoning
Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, died on February 16, 2024 under unclear circumstances in an Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence for “extremism” and was buried in Moscow last Friday. His death sparked a wave of condemnation in the West.
Alexei Navalny, a trained lawyer who was imprisoned at the beginning of 2021, tirelessly denounced the oppression and corruption of the Russian elites and criticized the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine from his cell.
On December 17, 2020, Alexei Navalny met Frenchman Jacques Maire, then a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in Berlin, exactly one month to the day before his return to Russia and his arrest. The elected European official was appointed rapporteur for an investigation into the poisoning that almost cost Alexei Navalny his life, with the aim of “legally clarifying the matter” and establishing the responsibility of the Russian authorities, Libération explains.
The defense of the Russian people against Vladimir Putin
In a statement filmed in a hotel meeting room, Alexei Navalny discussed in English the circumstances of his poisoning in Siberia in the summer of 2020 and the role of the secret services in his life since he decided to run for the Russian presidency and what he did held by Vladimir Putin.
When asked by Jacques Maire whether he thought he would be arrested upon his return, Alexei Navalny replied: “That's a question I prefer not to answer (…) They constantly make threats, they confiscated my apartment and mine Bank accounts.” (…). Will I be arrested at the airport? Or later ? I have no idea “.
“There are millions of people who refuse to live in a country where all power is in the hands of one person,” the opponent explained, adding: “At least half of the country wants Russia to be a normal European country , but it (Vladimir Putin, editor's note) wants to do everything to suppress and repel this kind of thought or political movement.
An interview was published to “pay tribute” to Navalny.
He also speaks at length about his poisoning, explaining that he never imagined he would be the target of a “chemical weapon.” “That's what I thought, that it was wrong that they only used such methods against terrorists, spies or traitors. They resort to incitement or imprisonment against political opponents. But it was a very big mistake on my part,” he admits.
Jacques Maire told Libération that this interview was not intended for publication. But given the circumstances of the anti-corruption activist's death, “(c)these documents are of public interest to history,” he reasons. It’s also “a way to pay homage to him,” he adds.
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