With this video, Julia Navalnaya inherits her husband’s inheritance. Two lucky people win a five-year pension in the lottery

“Hello, this is Julia Navalnaya,” says Alexei Navalny’s widow, looking straight into the camera. She logs in for the first time to the YouTube channel, which was previously managed by her husband – and he always says: “Hello, it’s Navalny!” had started. “I shouldn’t be here,” Navalnaya says. Someone else should be in her place, “but that person was killed by Putin.”

There has already been speculation, especially among Navalny’s supporters, about who should fill the void left by the opposition critic after his death. In the almost nine-minute video, Navalnaya makes it clear: she will inherit her husband’s fight against Vladimir Putin. And perhaps even become the new leading figure in the movement against the Russian autocrat.

With her hands folded on a marble table and in a dramatically lit setting, the 47-year-old says: “I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny and continue to fight for our country.” Navalnaya calls on her supporters to help her. “I ask you to share my anger – my anger, my rage and my hatred for those who have dared to destroy our future.”

Unintentionally in the spotlight

Navalnaya’s video is like a starting signal, carefully staged, accompanied by moving music and with a clear idea behind it. The New York Times, for example, describes the video as a kind of “introduction of a new leader of the fragmented pro-democracy movement against Putin.”

Until recently, that seemed quite unlikely. Julia Navalnaya supported her husband from the beginning wherever she could. “I have always been by Alexei’s side over the years,” the Russian said in her video message, “elections, rallies, house arrest, searches, arrests, prison, poisoning, more rallies, arrests and more prison sentences.” Nevertheless, Navalnaya, who studied economics and worked in the banking sector, was seen as a woman who preferred to avoid the spotlight.

She always rejected questions about whether she wanted to come to the fore as a political figure, emphasizing her role as a mother and wife. After the birth of her two children in 2000 and 2008, Navalnaya gave up her job and devoted herself to the family. In a rare interview with the international edition of the German Spiegel a year ago, Navalnaya explained that to appear as a political figure, you have to want to be a politician through and through. It therefore makes no sense to see her role as a simple replacement for her husband. “I have made a different decision: my husband is the opposition leader, he is in prison and I support him and draw attention to his situation.”

But now that her husband is dead, the anger in Navalnaya’s stomach may have damaged her beliefs. She was by her husband’s side for so long, the 47-year-old said. “But today I want to be by your side. Because I know you’ve lost as much as I have.” Shortly after Navalny’s death, she decided to stay in Munich for the security conference. She gave an impromptu speech there. On Monday, Navalnaya accepted an invitation to a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

“They are hiding his body”

And now the clear statement in which she essentially says: she has no other choice. Her husband was tortured and starved for years. “But not only did he never give up, he cheered us up all the time, laughing, joking and reminding us never to give up and not to wonder what he was fighting and suffering for.” And now there is no choice but to keep fighting: “The unimaginable sacrifice he has made cannot be in vain.” Her husband was unbreakable and that’s why Putin killed him.

Just as cowardly as Putin killed her husband, he is now hiding his body, Navalnaya said. Relatives and Navalny’s team have been calling on the Russian power apparatus for days to hand over the body in vain.

Why Navalny returned to Russia

Yulia Navalnaya was at her husband’s side when he was arrested on Russian soil in 2021 after fleeing to Moscow. The Russian now says in the video that many people asked her why the couple had returned in the first place – while it was clear that Alexei would probably be taken away immediately. ‘Why would he sacrifice himself like that? “After all, he could have lived a normal life with his family,” Navalnaya asks rhetorically.

“But he couldn’t do that!” she explains. «Alexei loved Russia more than anything in the world. He loved our country, he loved you. He believed in us, in our strength, in our future and that we deserve the best,” Navalnaya said. “He believed so deeply and sincerely in our country that he was willing to give his life for it.”

Lots of question marks

The question of influence over the opposition at a distance is likely to arise for Navalnaya as well. Not only is the opposition fragmented and sometimes violently divided. Like her husband, Navalnaya would also risk immediate arrest if she entered Russia. In 2021, the Russian government effectively dissolved Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation by declaring it an extremist organization. In doing so, she sent the group’s most important figures into exile. The battle continues there, but reaching the Russian public is becoming increasingly difficult.

In the summer of 2023, there were rumors that Navalnaya might attend one of the many trials against her husband. But of course all plans were cancelled. Russian state broadcaster RT previously reported that Navalnaya would likely be arrested for supporting an extremist organization if she returned, according to a law enforcement source.

Whether from a distance or not: what exactly her work as an opposition figure will look like is still unclear. Navalnaya doesn’t talk about that, at least not in her video message. “It is difficult to assess Navalnaya’s potential as a politician, because we have not yet gotten to know her in this new role,” writes Tatiana Stanovaja, political analyst and founder of the independent analysis portal R.Politics.

Much will depend on whether she succeeds in presenting herself “not just as the widow of a leading politician, but as an impressive, confident personality,” writes analyst Stanovaja. “Their success will depend on their ability to develop a unique political style, articulate their vision and assemble a professional team that does not alienate potential supporters.” Only time will tell how great their influence on the political landscape will be.