Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev spoke about Yulia Navalnaya, who announced plans to continue her husband’s work after his murder in custody. A fragment of criticism was published on Medvedev’s telegram channel.
“Since you’re already talking about it: look at the smiling, happy face of Navalny’s widow. It feels like she has been waiting for this event all these years to unfold her political life. And she already said this. This is all sad,” Medvedev said in a conversation with employees of state media.
Judging by Medvedev’s words, before this, journalists asked him about the death of the oppositionist himself. “As is our custom, talking about the departed is either good or nothing. “I can’t say anything good about him,” the deputy chairman of the Security Council answered them.
Later, Navalnaya commented on Medvedev’s words on Twitter: “Why are you protecting me from Medvedev, he’s an empty place. They deliberately give you this idiot so that you can let off steam on him. Write that Putin killed Alexei. Write every day. As long as you have enough strength.”
The murder of Navalny in correctional colony No. 3 in Yamal became known on February 16; his body has not yet been returned to his relatives. Three days later, Yulia Navalnaya announced that she would continue her husband’s business. “I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. Continue to fight for our country and I urge you to stand next to me,” she said in the video.
Later, Yulia Navalnaya met with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and spoke at a meeting in Brussels. As Navalny’s supporters later said, the oppositionist’s wife called on the EU Foreign Affairs Council not to recognize the results of the presidential elections, not to equate Russia and Putin, and to help Russian emigrants who left for political reasons.
Dozhd host Anna Mongait drew attention to the fact that even before Medvedev, government officials and propagandists repeatedly tried to criticize Yulia Navalnaya. Thus, one of the reasons for criticism was the dress that Navalnaya wore to the Oscars for the film about her husband in March 2023. “The essence of the complaint was this: they say, her husband is sitting, and she is so beautiful, also in provocative red,” writes Mongait.
Navalny himself was later asked about this in a letter to the colony. “Otherwise I read all sorts of idiots who say: how?! The husband/father is sitting, and they are wearing red dresses. Well, damn it, now we walk around in black, sleep in coffins and eat dirt. This will make me feel much better. These mourning and Lenten faces only make things worse for the prisoners in the wild and for the prisoners themselves. Makes me sad. A person should always enjoy life,” the politician wrote in a response letter.
Updated at 17:03. Added commentary by Yulia Navalnaya.