In time, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, may be able to fill the void because “she’s tough as nails, she’s very principled,” the former ambassador added.
If reports of Navalny’s death are accurate, “it’s a terrible tragedy,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NPR on Friday.
“Given the Russian government’s long and sordid history of doing harm to its opponents, that raises real and obvious questions about what happened here,” Sullivan said.
Navalny, 47, was repeatedly targeted in recent years, facing imprisonment and poisoning.
A nerve agent
was found “in and on” his body in 2020,
sparking international backlash and leading to the Biden administration
placing new sanctions on Russia.
After recovering from the poisoning in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia in January 2021 and was immediately arrested.
“I was in touch with him right before he flew back, but he said to me, ‘Mike, this is my country. I’m not going to let this guy chase me out of it,’” McFaul said.
