Posthumous memoirs by Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny will be released in October

Alexeï Navalny began writing this book shortly after the serious poisoning of which he suffered in 2020, but the memoirs also contain “unpublished correspondence” from prison.

Posthumous memoirs of Vladimir Putin’s number one opponent, Alexeï Navalny, testimony of “his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship” according to his widow, will be published on October 22, 2024, announced Thursday April 11 the American publisher Knopf. “This book bears witness not only to Alexei’s life, but also to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship, a fight for which he gave everything, including his own life.”declares Yulia Navalnaïa in the Knopf press release, about this book, a version of which in Russian is planned according to the publisher.

Upon his return to Russia in January 2021, after a serious poisoning, the anti-corruption activist was immediately arrested. He was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” in a penal colony in the Arctic when he died at the age of 47 on February 16.

“What kind of biography do you write at 44?”

On X, Yulia Navalnaïa, who promised to continue her husband’s fight and lives in exile abroad, specifies that the book, Patriot will be released in 11 languages, “also in Russian”. According to Knopf, Alexei Navalny began writing the book shortly after the serious poisoning he suffered in 2020, which he attributed to the Kremlin, but the memoir also contains “unpublished correspondences” from prison.

“This is not at all the way I imagined Alexei would write his biography. I thought we would already be in our eighties, that he would sit at his computer, by the open window, and write . And I would go around complaining that he is doing anything wrong when the children will soon arrive.”says Yulia Navalnaïa on X. “Finally, what kind of biography does one write at 44? Barely more than half his life had passed (…) in a horrible and very, very unfair way. It turns out that he didn’t there was no other half to come”she adds.