Navalny's wife Yulia takes up the cause
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of prominent Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny who was allegedly murdered in a prison camp, has said she vows to continue his work and take up the political baton against Putin and the Kremlin. Commentators see her as a worthy successor with the potential to unite the Russian opposition.
She has picked up the banner
Navalnaya is a very credible opposition leader, political scientist Abbas Galliamov writes on Facebook:
“With the vast majority of politicians, people have an underlying suspicion that their true motivation is different from what they claim. This is especially true in a country with a political class as corrupt and dishonest as Russia. Yulia Navalnaya will not have this problem. Her motivation is extremely simple and clear, it has an absolutely positive societal connotation. She is simply picking up the banner that fell from the hands of her murdered husband. ... For that reason it will be very difficult for the Kremlin to discredit Yulia and accuse her of selfish motives.”
Putin miscalculated
Alexei Navalny's fight will continue, La Repubblica explains:
“Two women have taken up the intellectual and political legacy of Alexei Navalny, whom Vladimir Putin thought he could erase forever. ... One is Navalny's mother Lyudmila. For three days now she's been criss-crossing one of the most remote and hostile regions in Siberia. ... But this desperate wandering of a mother in search of her son's body is the silent embodiment of a cry of pain, a denunciation of the tsar's suspicious ambiguity. ... The other woman, his wife Yulia, has thrown down the gauntlet of political defiance and openly accused the tsar of killing her husband.”
The new face of the opposition
Former Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev writes in an article on X republished by Echo:
“Yulia Navalnaya is in a unique political position. She is starting out with her husband's political capital, which is currently amplified by a wave of emotion. She is welcomed by the world's top-ranking politicians. She may well become the face of the Russian opposition. To achieve this, she must bring everyone who has something to say to the table (even if only figuratively) and propose ideas for joint, coordinated work. Elections are just around the corner, and the situation in Russia is likely to get worse afterwards. This must be taken into account now.”