Pays tribute to anti-corruption campaigner who fought for democracy in Russia
Portugal’s minister of foreign affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, has blamed Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, for the death of Alexei Navalny, his most prominent domestic critic, paying tribute to the anti-corruption campaigner for his resistance and his fight for democracy in Russia.
“Putin used his arbitrary powers to imprison him in increasingly draconian conditions, and is responsible for his death,” wrote the minister on social network X (formerly Twitter).
47-year-old Navalny’s death was announced by Russia’s prison services today, in a penal colony in the Arctic to which he had been transferred in December, after having been in a prison in the Vladimir region, less than 200 kilometres from Moscow.
Navalny’s team did not immediately confirm the dissident’s death.
Said Gomes Cravinho: “I pay homage to Alexei Navalny, who resisted Putin’s regime and fought for democracy in Russia. “My condolences to his family and to the Russian people.”
In Munich, Mr Navalny’s wife Yuliya Navalnaya has vowed that Vladimir Putin “will answer” for what he has done to her husband.
If the news is true, she said: “ I want Putin, his whole crew and all of his friends to know that they will answer for what they have done to our country, my family and my husband. That day will come very soon.
“And I call on the international community, the people in this room, and people everywhere that we fight and beat this evil, this terrible regime in Russia led by Vladimir Putin. They are to be personally held responsible for all the horrible things they have done to us.’
Russian news outlets have this far given no cause of death or further information.
For now, João Gomes Cravinho appears to be the only member of Portugal’s government to have marked Navalny’s death – and he does so after a number of recent statements in which he has shown Portugal does not always ‘follow the popular line’: he has been vehement in his support of the Palestinians, calling for a ceasefire and holding no truck with Israeli justifications for perpetuating their attacks on the people of Gaza – and he made the decision to INCREASE support to UNWRA when so many countries were doing just the opposite.
Despite being behind bars in one of the most inhospitable penal colonies Russia admits to, Alexei Navalny managed still to be a ‘force to be reckoned with’.
His most recent tweets came only two days ago and referred to the fact that he was being returned to a punishment cell – having only been released from one a few days previously. He also tweeted a Valentine’s Day message to his wife. But before these, his tweets showed he was orchestrating a ‘protest’ against Putin, to make itself felt during the upcoming presidential elections.
His plan involved all ‘anti-Putin’ voters to turn up at polling booths around the country at 12 noon. He wrote: “Noon Against Putin” action perfectly unites all the components. Voting, agitation, physical presence, and solidarity with those who will be with you at the polling station at that time“.
It was in a series of tweets in 2021 that Alexei Navalny exposed the hijacking of Portugal’s Nationality Law by Russian oligarchs, leading to a criminal investigation, and ultimately tough changes within the law to the point that it can no longer act as an open door to European citizenship.
Elsewhere in the political sphere, anti-corruption campaigner Ana Gomes has tweeted: “Russians, rise up!”, while CDS leader Nuno Melo wrote: “Putin’s supporters in Portugal can carry this death and this attack on the resistance for democracy on their conscience”.
