Posthumous memoirs by Vladimir Putin’s number one opponent, Alexeï Navalny, testimony to “his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship” according to his widow, will be published on October 22, 2024, the American publisher Knopf announced on Thursday.
“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,” says Yulia Navalnaïa in the Knopf press release. , about this book of which a Russian version is planned according to the publisher.
On Patriot (its title in English) 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after the serious poisoning he suffered in 2020, which he attributed to the Kremlin, but the memoir also contains “unpublished correspondence” from prison.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, and 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 M.me Navalnaya on X.
“Finally, what kind of biography do you write at 44? Barely more than half his life had passed […] in a horrible and very, very unfair way. Turns out there was no other half coming,” she adds.
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 an Arctic penal colony when he died at the age of 47 on February 16.
” Change “
His death provoked unanimous condemnation from Western capitals, with many leaders accusing Vladimir Putin.
“Written with the passion, wit, frankness and courage that earned him the acclaim he deserved, Patriot is Navalny’s final letter to the world: a moving account of the last years he spent in the world’s most brutal prison, a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom are so important, and a vibrant call to freedom,” promises the Knopf publishing house.
The book expresses “Navalny’s total conviction that nothing will resist the change that will come,” adds this publisher.
Rights have already been sold worldwide and the publisher plans to print 500,000 copies initially.
The death of Alexei Navalny came against a backdrop of increased repression of the opposition in Russia, which was further strengthened after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Thousands of people attended the funeral of Vladimir Putin’s number one detractor in Moscow, despite the risk of being arrested. A former lawyer, he gained popularity by campaigning against corruption.
Last month, Vladimir Putin was re-elected president with a triumphant score of 87% of the vote, a vote considered undemocratic by most Western states, and against a backdrop of opposition decimated by repression.