Alexei Navalny’s widow rubbishes Russia’s latest claim Putin critic died of ‘combination of diseases’

Alexei Navalny’s wife has rubbished fresh claims by Russian investigators that his death in an Arctic penal colony was caused by “a combination of diseases” – accusing them of trying to cover up his murder.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s most significant political challenger had been serving prison sentences exceeding 30 years on charges widely regarded as bogus until his sudden death in February, just a day after he appeared fit and jovial in a court hearing.

The late opposition leader’s wife Yulia Navalnaya has now shared the contents of a letter which she said she received last week from Russia’s investigative committee stating there were no criminal circumstances surrounding her husband’s death and therefore no grounds to open an investigation.

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The letter was signed by Alexander Varapayev, the same official who – according to Ms Navalnaya – initially refused to hand over her husband’s body to his mother unless she agreed to have him buried in secret, a demand which she rejected.

According to the letter shared by Ms Navalnaya, the cause of her husband’s death was a “combination of diseases” which it presented as a long list, ranging from hypertension and pancreatitis to damage to his vertebrae and the presence of herpes virus in his lungs and spleen.

The trigger for his death was a critical increase in blood pressure that upset the rhythm of his heart and overloaded the pressure in its chambers, according to the letter.

It claimed Navalny had fallen ill suddenly while walking in the prison yard, and was taken to a medical unit where staff tried unsuccessfully to save him with “indirect heart massage and artificial respiration”. An emergency team was sent for, but was also unable to revive him.

Ms Navalnaya, for whom Russia issued an arrest warrant last month, said that version was a lie and a cover-up.

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“We know very well that when Alexei became ill, he was taken not to the medical unit, but back to the punishment cell. That he was dying there, alone. That he was taken to the medical unit already unconscious. That in the last minutes before his death he complained of acute pain in his stomach,” said Ms Navalnaya.

“Why is all this not in the resolution of the Investigative Committee?” she said, without elaborating on how she and her husband’s supporters had established the sequence of events she described.

Ms Navalnaya said “every third person in Russia” had chronic diseases of the kind listed by the report, and “people don’t die suddenly from something like that in the space of an hour”. She also challenged the diagnosis of heart arrhythmia.

“Tell me, how did you discover this arrhythmia during the autopsy? Heart rhythm disturbances cannot be determined posthumously, and during his lifetime Alexei did not have any heart diseases,” she said.

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Ms Navalnaya also accused Russian investigators of continuing to refuse to return her husband’s possessions to his family, contrary to protocol.

“There can be one explanation for this. Only one. He was murdered, and now they’re trying to cover their tracks as much as possible,” she said.

Expressing demands for a criminal case to be opened, Ms Navalnaya – who is living in an undisclosed location outside of Russia – said she was resigned to the likelihood that there would be no investigation so long as Mr Putin remains in the Kremlin.

“Therefore, we will continue to investigate ourselves,” she said, urging prison staff and officials to contact her team confidentially and promising to pay for any new information.

Additional reporting by Reuters