The wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Yulia, dramatically took the stage Friday to a standing ovation from the crowd at the Munich Security Conference, hours after being told her husband is dead, and passionately went after Vladimir Putin.
Navalny died less than a month before Russia’s election that will give Putin six more years of power, and as he served a prison sentence widely viewed as political punishment following a poisoning attempt believed to have been ordered by the Russian government. Supporters of Navalny and western officials are calling the Kremlin critic’s death a political assassination.
“If it’s the truth [that Alexei is dead], I would like Putin, all his staff, everyone around him, his government, his friends, I want them to know that they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with my family, and with my husband. They will be brought to justice, and this day will come soon,” Yulia said, via translator.
“I would like to call upon all the international community, all the people in the world,” Yulia added. “We should come together and we should fight against this evil. We should fight this horrific regime in Russia today. This regime and Vladimir Putin should be personally held responsible for all their atrocities they have committed.”
