Georgian president says announcement of Navalny’s death was carefully timed

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has said she believes that Russia’s announcement of the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny was not a coincidence, but was carefully timed to send a message.

Source: President Zourabichvili in an interview with DPA on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference; European Pravda

Details: “I think it’s no accident that the announcement of Navalny’s death came hours or even minutes before the beginning of the Munich [Security] Conference,” Zourabichvili said.

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She said she thought it was a message to the conference attendees.

“This is typical of Russia, to reinforce a sense that the Russian Federation can do whatever it wants wherever it wants to,” Zourabichvili added.

Navalny’s team confirmed his death on Saturday, 17 February, after hearing from Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya.

Navalny’s press officer Kira Yarmysh said on X that Navalnaya had travelled to the penal colony in Russia’s north where her son had been held, where she was given an official death notice.

Background:

• On the afternoon of 16 February, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at Correctional Facility No. 3 in Kharp, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in northwestern Siberia.
• European countries believe Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government are behind Navalny’s death. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stressed that Navalny was not the first victim of Putin’s regime.
• US President Joe Biden leveraged the announcement of Navalny’s death to put pressure on the Congress to approve aid for Ukraine.

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