Photo: screenshot from the video
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late opposition politician Alexey Navalny, posted a video on Tuesday summarising the main events of Vladimir Putin’s last term in office, just as his inauguration was getting under way for his fifth term.
In the video, Navalnaya said Putin’s fourth term would be principally remembered for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which has led to both a loss of life and Russia’s isolation.
“He can call it whatever he wants, but you can’t deceive people who are being sent to the front, whose relatives return from there as disabled persons, or don’t return at all,” Navalnaya said.
Navalnaya recalled the March terror attack on a concert hall near Moscow, calling it “one of the most horrifying terror attacks in recent history” that the Russian security forces had failed to prevent.
She also said that Russia now had several hundred political prisoners being kept “in inhumane conditions”, arrested for their journalism, civil stance, or even social media reposts.
“For me personally, these six years of Putin were the ones in which my husband Alexey Navalny, an honest and brave man, a true patriot, was persecuted, poisoned with chemical weapons, tried, tortured in prison for three years, and then killed. Putin did that too,” Navalnaya said, in reference to her husband’s murder in February.
She ended by saying it was important to undermine whatever legitimacy Putin still had. “It’s difficult, but we must try, which means persistent and stubborn work.”
"Our country is currently being ruled by a liar, thief and murderer. But that will definitely come to an end. Do not give up! The truth will definitely win,” Navalnaya concluded.
