Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny dies in prison

Russian opposition politician died in a prison Kharp, Russia, on 16th February at the age of 47.

Alexei Navalny

He had been in prison since his detention in January 2021 on charges of breaching parole conditions which were imposed following a 2014 conviction for alleged embezzlement. The alleged breach of parole conditions in question was his medical evacuation to Germany in August 2020 in relation to him being being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

Navalny's 2020 poisoning - and the murders of other prominent Russian opposiition figures by the Russian government - has led many to believe that his death was orchestrated by the Russian government.

He has previously accused several Russian government officials of corruption, including Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, and and has called the political party United Russia a "party of crooks and thieves". On 19th January 2021, an investigation by Navalny and the Anti-Corruption Foundation was published that accused Vladimir Putin of using fraudulently obtained funds to build a palace for himself in Krasnodar Krai.

However, many of Navalny's foreign policy positions have been controversial. For example, in October 2014, Navalny stated that if he were President, he would not be willing to return the illegally occupied Crimean peninsula to Ukraine. Furthermore, in 2008, he called on Russia to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are internationally recognised as part of Georgia. He also said that "Russia is entitled to a say in the domestic affairs of its post-Soviet neighbours".

Additionally, he has also been heavily criticised for his participation in the "Russian march", an annual demonstration in which many Russian neo-nazi organisations take part.