The Munich Security Conference took an unexpected turn into personal territory when Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Alexei Navalny, addressed the audience following reports of his death.
Navalnaya, present in Germany for the conference, took the stage after US Vice President Kamala Harris. Speaking from a podium typically reserved for senior politicians, she pondered, “I thought: should I stand here before you or should I go back to my children? And then I thought: what would have Alexei done in my place? And I’m sure that he would have been standing here on this stage.”
In a setting known for scripted political messages, the moment was notably emotional and personal. During the conference, Navalnaya expressed skepticism about the news, highlighting the lack of trust in the Russian government’s information.
Tearfully addressing the reported death of Alexei Navalny, she asserted that consequences await Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates: “But if this is true, I want Putin, his entire entourage, Putin’s friends, his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband. And this day will come very soon.”
Navalnaya called for international unity against what she labeled Russia’s “horrible regime” and underscored the personal responsibility of both the regime and Vladimir Putin for their actions in recent years.