The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Vladimir Putin and the Russian government were responsible for Alexei Navalny’s death.The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Vladimir Putin and the Russian government were responsible for Alexei Navalny’s death.
“His resistance, his opposition to a repressive regime was inspiring to so many people around the world, and we make clear we hold the Russian government solely responsible for his treatment and his death,” Wong said. The Russian government claims Navalny died of natural causes. In a statement, the federal penitentiary service for the region where Navalny was incarcerated said he “felt unwell after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness”.
“He bravely stood up to the corruption, the violence and all the bad things that the Putin government was doing,” Biden said. “In response, Putin had him poisoned, he had him arrested, he had him prosecuted for fabricated crimes, he sentenced him to prison, he held him in isolation … Even in prison he was a powerful voice for the truth.”