Alexei Navalny's letters from prison showed that 'he loved life,' says exiled journalist
Ilya Krasilshchik says his penpal never lost his joie de vivre and optimism behind bars
Alexei Navalny never lost hope, says an exiled Russian dissident who exchanged letters with him in prison.
Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, died behind bars on Friday. Russian prison officials say he fell ill, but his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, says he was murdered. The Kremlin has denied involvement in his death.
He had been serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism, which he and his allies say were politically motivated. While he was behind bars, he continued to publish statements through his staff, and exchange letters with friends and supporters.
After analyzing Navalny's writings from the months leading up to his death, New York Times reporter Anton Troianovski wrote: "Even as brutal prison conditions took their toll on his body — he was often denied medical and dental treatment — there was no hint that Mr. Navalny had lost his clarity of mind."
Russian journalist Ilya Krasilshchik, who lives in Germany, exchanged many letters with Navalny. Some were about prison conditions. But many were about everyday things, like gossip, and books and food.
Here is part of Krasilshchik's conversation Peter Armstrong.
After exchanging all these very personal letters, what was it like to learn the news of Aleksei Navalny's death?
I'm not sure I can describe this feeling yet. It's absolutely awful.
And when you think about our future, our country, what's happening now, on so many levels, it's so tragic and so heartbreaking and so awful and so frighten[ing].
I still don't believe that this has happened. I just can't believe that this really happened.
You received so many letters and exchanged so many letters with him. Can you tell me a bit about the last one that you received from Mr. Navalny, I believe, in October. What kinds of things were on his mind then?
From my perspective, from what was in his letters, he wasn't depressed. He was really optimistic. It was hard for him there, surely, but he never said anything about any problems, which he had. And had a lot.
It's hard to be in a Russian prison, and it was much harder for him than for any average prisoner. But he wanted to talk about anything — about literature, about the city where I live, about the people [that] I met.
From his letters, it's clear that he loved life. And he loved life in many ways. And he knew so much, and he knew so many people. He saw so many things. He had so many thoughts.
Where do you think you found the ability to seek out an optimism — the sense of, you know, asking what people are up to, that he found and expressed interest in everyday life — in the midst of a really rotten place?
I think this is really important ... right now for Russians who are opposed to the regime to write to some political prisoners in Russia. And, unfortunately, there are a lot.
In many cases it really helps for them when you write ... about your day-by-day life. Because it helps them to feel themselves not so isolated.
This news from freedom — the news about what did you eat or who did you [see] yesterday — it's really like a part of normal life. So when you read this and when you write about this, you are still alive. And this is a really important feeling. And I think it's especially important when you are in, as you said, so rotten a place.
You were sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia. You live in exile in Germany now. Why do you think Mr. Navalny made that choice? To go back to Russia, to face imprisonment, and something that a lot of people said might happen, his eventual death?
I asked him, and he answered ... that this is his way, and he had no second thought about it, and his family had no second thought about it.
This is his way as a politician, and he needed to do this, and that's it.
Surely, from my point of view, I prefer him alive and free. But this was his choice. And this actually is the choice which made him, as somebody said, a superhero.
A superhero is dead right now, so I don't know. I don't know. But he was absolutely sure that this was his way and he needed to walk this way.
He said he was 100 per cent sure. He said it with confidence.
We're seeing people take to the streets. We're seeing people leave flowers at various tributes and monuments. Do you think the impact he wanted to have — it hasn't happened yet — but do you think it might be happening?
He was hopeful until the end. I think. So the last thing I got for him was about hope, and he had no problem with hope.
So I hope that his hope will be reality. And I don't know when, but it will happen.
And his wife, Yulia Navalny, said earlier today that she will continue what Alexei did. And I think she's our hope right now.
You say this is a low point, but Yulia is taking on the banner. Where do you think this leaves the opposition movement that Mr. Navalny led?
We had a leader, and we don't have a leader anymore. But when I saw you Yulia [speaking about her husband] in Munich ... I saw a leader. And I hope that she can be it.
We had Alexei for 15 years. And for 15 years, he was the most important guy in the opposition movement. And his brilliance, it's really hard to to recreate.
He was unique. And he was unique not only for our current times, but for history of Russia.
Interview produced by Chris Harbord. Q&A edited for length and clarity
