Putin saw Navalny, dead in prison, as a 'mortal threat,' says activist Bill Browder
Opposition leader’s death sends a message ahead of Russian elections, says activist
No cause of death has been established for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but financier and political activist Bill Browder has no doubt who's responsible.
"Let's be clear about this. Putin killed Alexei Navalny. It's plain, it's simple. He tried once before with Novichok, it didn't work. He tried again this time and it did," said Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, and a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny's death was announced Friday by the prison in the Arctic region where he was being held. Prison authorities said Navlany "felt unwell" after a walk on Friday and "almost immediately lost consciousness." Medical staff were unable to resuscitate him, and the reason for the death was being established, the prison said.
While Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a procedural probe, upon news of his death, many Western officials and Kremlin critics held the Russian regime ultimately responsible.
A lawyer and anti-corruption activist, Navalny became the Russian president's staunchest critic by exposing corruption among the country's elites. He survived a poisoning attempt in 2020 that his allies blamed on Putin and the Kremlin, though the Russian government has repeatedly denied any involvement. After recuperating in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia in early 2021 and was arrested. In February of that year, he was sentenced to three and a half years for violating probation terms. He later received a separate nine-year sentence for fraud in March 2022. His supporters say the rulings were politically motivated and aimed at stifling dissent.
Browder spoke to The Current's Matt Galloway about Navalny's death, and what it means for Russia. Here is part of their conversation.
How well did you know Alexei Navalny?
I knew him pretty well. We were collaborators on anti-corruption campaigns when I and he were both in Moscow. After the murder of my lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, he played a big role in getting justice for Sergei Magnitsky. And I've always supported him and been sympathetic towards him and been terrified for him. And this was just the worst possible outcome.
We're still waiting to find out details about what actually happened to Alexei Navalny. But he was in many ways one of the most, if not the most ardent critic of Vladimir Putin. Putin wouldn't even say his name. What do you think Vladimir Putin was afraid of when it came to Alexei Navalny?
Alexei Navalny was a person who was not afraid to speak the truth. And the truth was that Putin was destroying Russia, financially benefiting from the destruction. And that's a fact that's inconsistent with a person being the leader of the country. And so, Putin was afraid that Alexei Navalny would eventually have him unseated. And from Putin's perspective, if he ever lost his job, he would lose his life. And so he viewed Alexei Navalny as a mortal threat. And the person who needed to be eliminated. And that's pretty much how it's played itself out.
It's remarkable to think about, though. I mean, Vladimir Putin is an incredibly powerful man. This is one guy who was an opposition candidate. That he … would be such a threat to Vladimir Putin, I think, is surprising and shocking to some people.
What everyone needs to understand is that Putin, his power doesn't come from people loving him. His power comes from people being scared of him. And if somebody like Alexi Navalny says, 'I'm not scared of Vladimir Putin. I'm ready to call him out for his crimes.' Then it gives people that confidence to do it themselves … He's got to basically set an example, which is if he kills the most prominent critic, then very few other people will have the guts to be a critic as well.
What do you make of the fact that Alexei Navalny went back to Russia? He survived a poisoning that should have killed him, and instead of fleeing to safer places around the world, he went back defiantly to Russia. Why did he do that, do you think?
I think that his view was that it was either Putin was going to win or he was going to win. And he thought he had a good enough chance of winning to go back. I think he saw himself as being, you know, maybe sitting in jail like Nelson Mandela. And eventually when the Putin regime fell, he would take over. But ... it was a miscalculation in the end.
He was in front of cameras just last month, at this prison north of the Arctic Circle. And he was cracking jokes as he was appearing, in a very distressed state, but he still had a sense of humour about him. What did that tell you?
Well, it tells you how brave he is and also tells you what he wanted to show Putin, [which] was that Putin could do everything and anything, and that he would still have his composure and his strength. And he would have his strength enough to crack jokes and to be defiant.
It's one thing to put on a brave face, which he did, but it's another thing … if your body gives up. And that's apparently what happened.
There are presidential elections that will be held next month in Russia. The opposition candidate has been barred from running. What does the death of Alexei Navalny in the context of those elections mean, do you think, for Vladimir Putin?
Vladimir Putin just wants to make sure that anybody who ever has any thoughts about being in opposition, has a second thought and doesn't do it. And the message to everybody is you go into politics to oppose Putin and you die.
That's the very clear message, in the same way as the message was to anybody in the military after the Prigozhin assassination: don't do any mutinies. Putin is a guy who's trying to keep control, and he likes to keep control with major symbolic assassinations. And this is a very major symbolic assassination.
What does it mean for Russia?
What it means for Russia is just more of the same. You know, Vladimir Putin's been there for 24 years, and sadly, it looks like the person who had the best chance of taking over from Putin is now dead.
