Any discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin is in vain, we must “fight him,” Yulia Navalnaïa, the widow of opponent Alexeï Navalny who died in detention in February, said in Paris on Thursday.
Invited to the French Constitutional Council to speak on the theme of democracy and law, Ioulia Navalnaïa vowed to resume in exile the fight of her husband who “fought so that people have the rights that we have in a democracy “.
“The West does not understand that Putin does not dream of us coming to him and asking to speak with him […] he doesn’t care,” she said.
“There is no need to argue with him, I just think we need to fight him to show him that justice will prevail one day,” Ms Navalnaïa added.
Yulia Navalnaya, who resides abroad, was included in the register of “terrorists and extremists” in Russia in July, shortly after an arrest warrant was issued against her for “participation in an extremist group”.
She vowed to take up the torch from her husband, Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy, who died in murky circumstances in his Arctic prison in February 2024.
She called on the opponent’s supporters not to lose hope and regularly denounces Russian power and the fate reserved for dissidents in Russia on social networks.
Alexei Navalny’s organizations were classified as “extremist” and banned in 2021 by Russian justice, and several of his collaborators have since been sentenced to prison terms.
Repression in Russia in recent years has thrown almost all major opponents behind bars or forced them to live abroad.
Thousands of Russians have been arrested for acts of protest or criticism of the military offensive in Ukraine, and many have been given very long sentences.
For Yulia Navalnaïa, it is “very important not to give up, not to be afraid of this regime”.