On February 28, Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, addressed the plenary session of the European Parliament. Navalny’s team streamed her speech on YouTube. Meduza shares main points from the address, which Navalnaya delivered in English.
Speaking to the European Parliament on Wednesday, Yulia Navalnaya described the difficulties she’s faced in trying to organize her husband’s funeral and burial. She said that even now, she doesn’t know if the Russian authorities will allow the event to take place peacefully.
Navalnaya clarified that she was addressing the E.U. Parliament to answer a question often put to her: how to help her in her fight. She emphasized that innovative methods, like those of her husband’s, are needed to combat Putin’s regime. According to Navalnaya, regular tactics are futile against Putin because he’s a “mobster” rather than a politician.
The political innovation here is to apply the methods of fighting organized crime, not political competition. Not diplomatic notes, but investigations into the financial machinations. Not statements of concern, but a search for mafia associates in your countries, for the discreet lawyers and financiers who are helping Putin and his friends to hide money.
The world is at risk of becoming indifferent to Putin’s brutality, Navalnaya warned:
Last Saturday was two years since Putin started a full-scale war against Ukraine. A brutal and sneaky war. The whole world rushed to Ukraine’s aid. But two years have passed, there is much exhaustion, much blood, much disappointment, and Putin has gone nowhere. Everything has already been used: Weapons, money, sanctions… Nothing is working. And the worst has happened: Everyone got used to the war. Here and there people started to say: ‘Well, we will have to come to an agreement with him anyway…’
Navalnaya also expressed her grief that her husband will never have the opportunity to see a “beautiful Russia of the future.”
Putin must answer for what he has done to my country. Putin must answer for what he has done to a neighboring, peaceful country. And Putin must answer for everything he has done to Alexey.