Putin Killed Navalny

Both men in the cover photo for this story, the leading Russian opposition figures, are now dead. With a span of 9 years, in the same month of February. When Nemtsov was assassinated on Feb.27, 2015, I could not believe it and was numb for a couple of days. Same thing happened when the news of Navalny's death broke on Feb.16, 2024.

Since that Friday, I’ve been telling myself “Putin killed Navalny” when the realization hits me over and over again. I’d go about my day, doing things I’m supposed to do, and then it would come over me like a wave again, “Navalny is no more. Putin has killed Navalny.” The fact that it happened two days before the anniversary of the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity and a couple of weeks before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine is ominous for me, given that I know how occult-practicing Putin sees the significance and connections of all these events.

My mind then inevitably goes to Alexey’s wife Yulia, an admirable woman who always stood by her soulmate’s side. How do you go on living, knowing that you will never see him again, never talk to him, never hold his strong reassuring hand and never see him smiling at you, telling you that everything will be alright? How do you stop yourself from thinking about how he died alone in that god-forsaken Polar Wolf prison, especially after you saw him dying once, thanks to a stranger's video on the Internet, of poisoning on that fateful flight and can never forget his howling moans of excruciating pain from a biological weapon? You rushed to his rescue and your love and determination saved him then, but this time you were not there. This time, Putin made sure to separate you with thousands of miles and prison guards.

This is what Navalny's last post on Valentine's Day said about Yulia:

"Baby, everything between us now is like in that song: we are separated by cities, airport landing lights, blue snow blizzards, and thousands of miles. But I feel you close every second, and my love for you only grows stronger."

Damn Putin for extinguishing the light of Alexey's soul. Right now, Yulia is in tremendous pain but even through that pain she found strength to tell the Munich Security Conference about her husband's death and promise that he would be avenged. Putin will never be able to extinguish her love for Alexey and I hope and pray she finds strength in herself to go on.

Alexey's mother stays in my thoughts as well. Together with Navalny's lawyers, they are being bumped from one Arctic morgue to another in search of her son's body. How cynical and inhumane people in Putin's prison system must be, to tell the woman whose son died behind their bars, that his body is not there and she should go to another morgue where it must have been sent? And when she comes to that morgue, find it closed (it's the weekend, right?) and then being told on the phone that the body is not there but in some other location where they are doing "additional investigation" of Alexey's "sudden death syndrome"? Damn Putin and his prison lackeys for treating a grief-stricken mother like this.

I'm also thinking about another closest woman in Alexey's life - his daughter Daria (Dasha). At only 20, she was thrown into the political and advocacy life by the fact of her father's illegal imprisonment. I will never forget her determined and powerful message at the TED talk where she started out with this:

“I miss him every single day. I’m scared that my father won’t be able to come to my graduation ceremony or walk me down the aisle at my wedding. But if being my father’s daughter has taught me anything, it is to never succumb to fear and sadness.”

God knows what Dasha is going through now, just like her 16-year-old brother Zakhar who is staying by their mother's side. The damage to this family Putin has inflicted is irreparable and unforgivable.

I am not sure Putin will get the just punishment for all the political killings he has committed and the war he started against Ukraine. Probably not while he is alive - the Russian society seems to be deeply entrenched in his cult. My dream is to see Putin behind bars in The Hague. But the only way that will happen is when Putin loses the war in Ukraine and is brought to justice by the International Criminal Court.

Please support Ukraine in any and every possible way you can think of, even if it comes down to only writing to your Congressman to demand the approval of the next Ukrainian aid package stuck in the House.