Alexei Navalny's latest death: Putin promotes prison official accused of torturing opposition leader

A jailed Russian opposition politician has expressed anger at the death of Alexei Navalny, after learning only yesterday.

Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison in December 2022 for spreading false information aimed at discrediting the Russian military, under a law passed after Russia launched its invasion.

His arrest followed statements he made on his YouTube channel about war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces in the Bucha suburb of Kiev.

“News comes slowly to the camp barracks, and I only learned of Alexei Navalny’s death yesterday,” Mr. Yashin wrote on X. It is difficult to convey my shock. It's hard to collect your thoughts. The pain and terror are unbearable.

“Alexey Navalny was my friend. So does Boris Nemtsov. We made common cause and dedicated our lives to making Russia peaceful, free and happy. Now both my friends are dead. I feel a black void inside. Of course, I understand my risks. I am behind bars, my life is in Putin's hands, and it is in danger. But I will continue to stick to my line.

“When I stood over Boris’ body in February 2015, I swore to myself not to be afraid, not to give up and not to run. Nine years later, as I mourn Alexei, I can only repeat that vow.

Vladimir Putin honored the prison minister responsible for depriving Alexei Navalny of food during his last imprisonment with the military rank of colonel-general.

First Deputy Head of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Valery Boyarinev, received this rank on Monday, just three days after Navalny's killing.

Ivan Zhdanov, director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, reposted a photo of the order Boyarinev issued in March 2023 to IK-6 in the Vladimir region to limit the amount the Russian opposition figure can buy food while in detention.

Vladimir Ussishkin, who founded the No Gulag project, claimed that Boyarinev supervised the torture of Ukrainian prisoners and Navalny in the Russian prison system.

Over the course of a decade and more, he and his team used a mixture of persistence and cynicism to investigate mafia-style financial ties between those at the top of Russia's politics, security and business. John Campner.

After being ousted from the state-controlled mainstream media, Navalny used every digital platform and social media channel available to highlight Putin's corrupt regime, surviving multiple poisonings and imprisonment until he was finally – and inevitably – silenced by his greatest enemy.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said he expected the UK and G7 allies to impose new sanctions on the Russians involved in the death of Alexei Navalny.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to the Falkland Islands, Lord Cameron said: “I think the first thing is to remember what a great man Alexei Navalny was, and the appalling regime that Putin is running in Russia.

“And yes, there will be consequences. What we do in these situations is we look at how someone's human rights have been harmed and the people who caused that, and we are able to pursue those people with certain measures.”

He added: “Now, we never announce sanctions in advance, I cannot do that.

“But what I can tell you is that at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Munich, I confirmed that the UK would do that and urged other countries to do the same. I believe very strongly that both of these things will happen.

Le Monde newspaper reported, citing statements made by French Foreign Minister Stephane Segorn during a visit to Argentina, that France will summon the Russian ambassador to Paris after the death of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“I have requested that the Russian ambassador be summoned today at 1830,” Segorn said, according to Le Monde newspaper.

On Monday, Germany also summoned Russia's ambassador to Berlin over Navalny's death.

Ivan Zhdanov, an ally of Alexei Navalny, denounced the Russian authorities as “henchmen and liars” and attacked them over the delay in handing over the body of the Putin critic.

“It is clear that what they are doing now is covering up the traces of their crime,” he wrote on Monday.

Since Navalny's death, police in Russia have detained nearly 400 people as they flocked to memorials and memorials to victims of political repression with flowers and candles to honor Navalny, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political events. Arrests.

The US and British ambassadors also mourned Navalny's death at a memorial service in Moscow.

European Union foreign policy coordinator Josep Borrell said that the bloc is considering imposing sanctions on Russia and also called for an independent international investigation into the causes of Alexei Navalny's death.

He said responsibility for Navalny's death lies with “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin himself, but we can go down to the institutional structure of Russia's prison system” to impose asset freezes and travel bans.