Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had a long history of political activism and anti-corruption advocacy from leading protests to publishing exposés of government fraud. But his fight was cut short. Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony at age 47, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service announced Friday.
According to the statement, Navalny felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness; the medical staff at the institution couldn’t revive him. His death comes a month before Russia’s presidential elections in March.
MORE: White House to target Russia with 'major sanctions' in response to Navalny's deathSurviving numerous arrests and a poisoning, Navalny has been the highest-profile critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his 24-year rule. Born in 1976, Navalny started his career in politics and activism at the same time Putin came to power.
Here’s a look at how Navalny went from being a government critic and anti-corruption blogger to leading Russia’s most prominent resistance movement in decades.
Navalny, who earned two degrees in economics and law and was a practicing lawyer, joined the Russian liberal Yabloko party in 2000.
In those years, he also formed a movement to protect the rights of Moscow residents and fought against construction that harmed their lives, according to his campaign website. In 2007, he was expelled from the party for what was viewed as his overly nationalistic views.
In 2008, he focused his efforts primarily on anti-corruption activities by publishing corruption allegations against state-run corporations such as gas distribution company Gazprom.
Navalny established the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a nonprofit organization revealing government corruption.
Ahead of the parliamentary elections in Russia, Navalny and his associates urge the Russian public to vote for any party but the ruling United Russia Party. Yet, United Russia got more than half of the seats in the parliament. As a result, in December 2011, people took the streets of Moscow and other cities for what was one of the biggest protests in years. Navalny was among at least 25,000 protesters. Along with hundreds of people, he was arrested and sentenced to 15 days in jail.
As Navalny’s popularity grew, in 2012 he was charged with two different cases of embezzlement and fraud. Navalny called the allegations false and politically motivated. Despite the charges, he managed to run for mayor of Moscow and gathered 27% of the votes in 2013.
MORE: Top Putin Critic Found Guilty of Embezzlement, Barring Him From 2018 Presidential RunNavalny received suspended sentences for both cases. In 2016, he announced he’d run for the presidency, which he was banned from because of the convictions.
In August 2020, Navalny fell ill and lost consciousness on a flight over Siberia and the plane made an emergency landing in the city of Omsk. Hospitalized in an induced coma, after some resistance from Russia, he was flown to Germany due to a suspicion of poisoning. Doctors in Germany and other laboratories in Europe confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. His recovery took more than five months.
Upon his return to Russia in 2021, Navalny was detained in a Moscow airport after officials claimed that his recovery in Germany violated the terms of his suspended sentence. He would join the hearings mostly virtually from jail and be regularly placed in solitary confinement.
In mid-2023, a judge sentenced Navalny to 19 years in prison for extremism charges, in addition to the nearly 12-year sentence he was already serving in a penal colony east of Moscow. Later the same year, he was transported to a colony north of the Arctic Circle to a "special regime" facility.
Russian authorities announced Feb. 16 that Navalny had died. Three days later his wife, Yulia Navalnya, accused Putin for being involved in Navalny's death and promised to continue his work.