Yulia Navalnaya urges EU not to recognise Putin’s ‘fake elections’

The widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has called on the European Union not to recognise the results of the Russian elections due to be held next month.

In a speech at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, Navalnaya urged European politicians to take action, adding that EU statements condemning Navalny’s mistreatment and expressing support for political prisoners were insufficient. 

Navalnaya asked. 

As well as urging the EU not to recognise Putin’s “fake elections”, Navalnaya proposed sanctioning celebrities and public figures in Russia backing his re-election campaign, and the creation of a special body to investigate billionaires in Putin’s close circle who have to date avoided sanctions. 

“Let’s make Putin’s friends truly suffer and pay for everything. For the crimes, for the suffering, for the awful aggressive war they have started against Ukraine,” Navalnaya said.

Simultaneously, Navalnaya also stressed the need for EU officials to “distinguish between Putin and Russia”, proposing the creation of an agency similar to the Nansen International Office for Refugees, which provided a passport for stateless people and refugees in the 1930s. 

Earlier on Monday, Navalnaya published a video address announcing her intention to “continue the work of Alexey Navalny” and stressing that “the struggle for a free Russia will not cease”.