Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny dies, prison service says

Alexey Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government will be "brought to justice" for the death of her husband.

“I want them to know that they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with my family, and with my husband,” she said at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, adding that she does not have confirmation of her husband’s death.

The news of Navalny's death came on Friday as world leaders gathered at the conference in southern Germany, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Navalnaya and "expressed his condolences," according to a State Department spokesperson.

Stalwart figure: Navalnaya remained a staunch advocate of her husband as he rose to prominence first as a blogger, then as an outspoken opposition figure in Russia.

She remained largely outside the spotlight until August 2020, when her husband was poisoned with the nerve agent, Novichok. After he fell gravely ill, Navalnaya made regular media appearances to bolster her husband's campaign -- pushing her into the center stage of a battle with the Russian state.

Navalnaya, her late husband and their two children have been under constant surveillance by the Kremlin for years. But her image of a stoic, calm, and collected woman became a story in its own right.

CNN's Mary Ilyushina and Alex Marquardt contributed reporting.

The what is known, but the how may never be clear. It is the why that is already the largest question, after the untimely death of Alexey Navalny. We don’t know whether the Kremlin had a hand in his death, but they certainly failed in their duty of care of their most famous prisoner.

Why did this happen now? We know Putin can be calm, pragmatic and opportunistic. But this death comes at an unexpected time for Russia and the Kremlin. It does not seem that Putin needed Navalny to die now. The dissident’s voice had been quietened. He had been reduced to a whisper from the Arctic Circle, confined to a prison regime that might itself have proven a threat to the health of a man who had already survived a vicious poison attack on a plane in 2020.

Presidential elections are a month away. Navalny was not a candidate, and never stood a chance to be one in the closed system of managed democracy Putin has espoused since 2004. He was the most courageous and active opponent Putin faced for decades. Yet his imprisonment in Correctional facility number 3, up in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region, served to some degree as a reminder of what happens to those who stand up to the Kremlin. And with his death, Putin is in a riskier position.

Globally, the focus has switched from Russia’s ascendancy and recovery in its illegal invasion of Ukraine, to its vicious silencing of even the quietest voices of dissent. The Munich Security Conference, set this morning to be an anxious series of reassurances from Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump’s recent remarks and the future of NATO, will now be reminded of Putin’s real and present threat to anyone to stands up to him.

Keep reading Paton Walsh's full analysis of Navalny's death.

Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley on Friday blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the reported death of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny and cited the incident to criticize her competitor for the Republican presidential nomination, former US President Donald Trump.

Haley also discussed Navalny's reported death while appearing on a morning radio show, referring to Trump's recent comments that he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense.

"That Trump's siding with a thug who kills his political opponents — by the way, he killed another one this morning," Haley said. "He's siding with Putin, who continues to try and destroy America at every turn."

The US is working to confirm the reports of Navalny's death, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier Friday.

What Trump has said: In a post to Truth Social early Friday afternoon that Trump's campaign said was his official response to Navalny's death, the former president said the US is "no longer respected because we have an incompetent president who is weak and doesn’t understand what the World is thinking."

In 2020, Trump refused to condemn the poisoning of Navalny, despite a plea from the opposition figure himself for the then-US president to do so.

An ambulance crew tried to resuscitate Alexey Navalny for more than half an hour, Labytnang City Hospital told Russian state-run media RIA Novosti.

“The doctors who arrived at the scene continued the resuscitation measures that the prison’s doctors had already provided," the agency’s interlocutor said, according to RIA.

"They carried them out for more than half an hour. However, the patient died."

"The ambulance team reached the prison in less than seven minutes, and doctors reached the patient two minutes later," according to the interlocutor.

On Friday, the Russian prison service said Navalny "felt unwell after a walk" and "almost immediately" lost consciousness. It said it was investigating his "sudden death."

US Vice President Kamala Harris said reports that Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has died in a Russian prison is “terrible news” and said “Russia is responsible.”

“We’ve all just received reports that Alexey Navalny has died in Russia. This is, of course, terrible news, which we are working to confirm,” Harris said in remarks at the Munich Security Conference, adding that her prayers are with his family. 

She added, “We will have more to say on this later."

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also have said the US is working to confirm the reports.

Alexey Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, last saw her son in prison on Monday and he was “healthy and cheerful,” she is quoted as telling Russian independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta.

The late Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny went back to Russia from Germany in 2021 "at a great cost" to him and his family, according to CNN's Clarissa Ward.

The father-of-two, 47, was nursed to health in a hospital in Berlin, after being poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. On his return to Moscow, he was swiftly arrested on charges he dismissed as politically motivated.

"He was very hands on as a father, but he also had this sense of calling that was unmistakeable that his children understood ... even though it came at a great cost," Ward told CNN's This Morning on Friday.

In late 2020, Navalny spoke to CNN as part of a joint investigation with the group Bellingcat, which implicated the Russian Security Service (FSB) in Navalny's poisoning. Russia denied involvement.

Even though the outspoken opposition figure was aware of the dangers in returning to Russia, he came to the decision with "clarity and ease ... understanding fully well the risk."

He felt that serving the people of Russia "fundamentally, on a very deep level, was his calling."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, responding to reports that Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has died in prison, told reporters who were traveling with him in Munich, Germany, on Friday that "Russia is responsible for this."

Although Blinken suggested the US is still working to confirm Navalny’s death, he made clear the US sees Russia as responsible for the opposition figure’s demise. 

"Beyond that, his death in a Russian prison and the fixation and fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built," Blinken continued. "Russia is responsible for this. We’ll be talking to many other countries concerned about Alexey Navalny, especially if these reports bear out to be true."

Earlier Friday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration was “actively seeking confirmation” surrounding the reports.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of reports of Alexey Navalny’s death, state-run media Ria Novosti reports.

Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson has accused Western leaders of rushing to judgment over Navalny’s death.

Maria Zakharova said the reaction from NATO leaders to Alexey Navalny’s death “reveals their true colours."