The opposition leader’s widow told the European parliament ‘Putin is the leader of an organized criminal gang – poisoners and assassins … and keepers of mafia money.’
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has called on European politicians and officials to investigate financial flows in the west linked to Russian president Vladimir Putin and his allies.
“Putin is the leader of an organized criminal gang. This includes poisoners and assassins but they’re just puppets. The most important thing is the people close to Putin – his friends, associates and keepers of mafia money,” she told the European parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
In a speech made in English punctuated by applause, Navalnaya said European leaders needed to „stop being boring” if they wanted to defeat Putin.
She said her late husband had to become an „innovator” to spread his message of opposition to Putin through Russia and called on international leaders to adopt a similar mindset, saying Putin cannot be hurt by resolutions or sanctions.
She said that the „murder” of her husband – who died in an Arctic penal colony on 16 February – showed that Putin was „capable of anything” and that he could not be negotiated with.
She said there are tens of millions of Russians who are against Putin and the war in Ukraine who should not be persecuted for his actions.
His funeral will be held on Friday in Moscow. It is unclear whether it would be peaceful and if Russian police would intervene. Hundreds have been arrested for laying flowers at memorials across Russia.
