we begin with breaking news from Russia
the prison agency there has just
announced that imprisoned opposition
leader alexe navali has died Russia's
federal prison service said in a
statement that Naval felt unwell after a
walk on Friday and lost Consciousness it
said an ambulance arrived to try to
rehabilitate him but he died naval's
press secretary said they hadn't been
informed of his death and a lawyer was
on the way to the prison uh spokesperson
for Vladimir Putin said the Russian
president president had been informed of
the 47y old's death but the Kremlin had
no further information at this
point Naval was a stor critic of the
Kremlin he was arrested in 2021 when he
returned to Russia after receiving
medical treatment in Germany for what
medical tests showed was a nerve agent
poisoning and for more on this we are
now joined by Yuri retto who heads the
DW Bureau in Ria that's where the DW
Moscow Bureau relocated to after DW was
asked to leave Russia by authorities
Yuri what more do we know at this
stage well what we know so far is that
Naval allegedly collapsed while walking
in penel Colony number three in the
Russian North apparently he suddenly
felt uh uh unwell bad and couldn't no
longer be rescued uh this is the
official version of the Russian
authorities uh his fellow campaigners
the members of the so-called naal team
you said it uh has not yet confirmed his
death uh this is what his press
secretary reported she says that Naval
is lawyer is on his way to the panel
colony in the Russian north um an
interesting detail maybe uh during his
lifetime naval's name was almost never
mentioned in official news President
Putin also never mentioned his name but
spoke of a blogger or Berlin passion uh
this time Russian news on state
television was interrupted and
announcers or speakers reported the news
of naval's death what does that say to
us about who Alexa naal was as a
politician and more importantly what
significance he had for
Russia well naali was certainly the best
known Russian politic extremely popular
in Western countries controversial in
Russia itself uh less known among older
Russians but among younger Russians he
was something like The Shining Light of
the Russian opposition uh he was often
mentioned as the leader of the
opposition the problem is that there has
been no common democratic opposition in
Russia in recent years so it's
problematic to name him as an opposition
leader what is certain however uh is
that he was done the most he has done
the most for the Democratic processes in
Russia because he was the biggest and
most dangerous critic of the exciting uh
uh of of the Russian President Vladimir
Putin um and he is the only politician
in Russia or he was the only politician
in Russia who has man managed to bring
broad masses of critically thinking
Russians onto the streets hundreds of
thousands have protested against the
Kremlin against Putin and for naal in
recent years not only in Moscow and St
Petersburg but across the whole country
even if thousands had to pay for these
protest with their money or their
freedom who was he though as a person
and uh what was his life
like well Alexa naal died at just 47
years old old uh in addition to his
political work he was a lawyer lawyer he
also earned his money as a lawyer uh he
had a wife and two children uh his older
daughter lives and studies in the USA
and naali himself of course became known
worldwide when he was poisoned in Russia
on a flight in superia in 2020 uh he was
then treated in Berlin uh in in the
hospital uh and recovered from him
poisoning and then he returned to Russia
in 2021 where he was immediately
arrested and put in prison many people
were very surprised at the time as to
why Naval returned to Russia at all
after the apparent attempted murder of
him but he said he was a Russian
politician and he wanted to do politics
in Russia and not from abroad in
addition to his political work Naval was
known as an in investigative journalist
um his team published dozens of videos
that exposed the alleged Secret lives of
Russians Russia's top politicians and
the most famous video seen by millions
of people in Russia and around the world
was certainly a documentary about
President Putin's supposedly secret
Palace on the Black Sea so this video
was certainly a sensation and its
protagonist President Putin was probably
not happy about it you said a while back
that uh he was certainly very popular
Alexa naali was certainly very popular
here in the west but how popular was he
among
Russians
well look as I said uh the trategy of
Naval as a politician was uh that he
risked
everything but still didn't have very
broad support among millions of Russians
uh yeah he was popular with the younger
people uh he used their language of
communication especially YouTube
internet but he was less popular with
the older population and he wasn't even
well known by some uh this was also
because Naval was often seen as a
protest politician but he actually was
uh that means voters knew what he was
against but not what he was for uh his
return from Berlin after his recovery
after the treatment was certainly yeah a
very big topic and he certainly won the
eyes of many people as a brave man but
he became increasingly quiet after that
uh when he was arrested and put in
prison so the state media completely
ignored him and the Independent Media
reported on his harsh prison condition
and also repeatedly published his
current political comments about those
pris conditions what do we know about
them well if you believe uh his team's
reports uh his prison conditions U must
have been very very harsh and Nal was
first held in a prison uh in in Vladimir
near Moscow in central Russia uh then he
was moved some months ago nor to North
to to the panel colon three in yamalo
nit uh he is said to have been
constantly punished and transferred to a
punishment cell um the few photos or
videos that appeared during his
detention showed a very yeah
very sick man but still trying to smile
and spread
optimism we'll uh leave it there for the
time being DW's Ria bureau chief Yuri
retto thanks so much for that
context
yeah and for more on this let's talk to
DW Chief political editor Michela kufner
who joins me now from the Munich
security conference venue Michela news
of Alexa naval's death has trickled into
the conference venue what are some of
the reactions you're
hearing well there is a real sense of
shock here um we saw the opening of uh
the Munich security conference actually
start with kristofh Hoin the director of
the MSC um mentioning that Alexa Nal had
died he said only a few minutes ago and
saying that the thoughts of everybody
were with his wife who's also here in
Munich actually and his children I spoke
to an analyst here who uh reads a lot
into the timing of this death who says
he doesn't believe that this was not a
deliberate signal to world leaders
Gathering here at the Munich security
conference so we don't want to go down
any kind of rabbit hole of potential uh
theories here but it is a striking a
coincidence that news of Alexa Naval
should come just as leaders gather here
with Russia deliberately not invited
here not wanted at the global table
which is there to resolve these many
conflicts uh Ukraine now to towering
High over this uh but of course also the
conflict in the Middle East so a a
collective sense of shock here but not
of disbelief that this happened uh
Michaela it is hard to find uh I suppose
arguably any Russian politician who was
so loved uh in the west as Alexa naali
was and I wonder what the attendees at
the Munich security conference have told
you about what that means for Russia
going forward under Vladimir
Putin well this is essentially seen as
yet another sign of the decisiveness
with which Vladimir Putin wants to
disengage completely um the German
foreign minister actually in a in a
tweet on X before she headed here she's
on her way here right now said that
Alexa naali epitomized the free the wish
for a free and Democratic Russia like
few others and that that is the very
reason why he died uh and that her
thoughts were with his family so clearly
the message is being received here that
this is Russia cutting yet more ties and
uh letting any kind of Illusion that
there might be some good will or good
faith on the Russian side evaporate is
there any soul searching perhaps uh
amongst delegates there or amongst
Western Nations because uh when Alex
navali went back to Russia they were
really unable to influence the Russian
government at all as to when it came to
how he was treated in
prison well the entire conflict the
attack on Ukraine is the um proof If
anyone needed it that there is no
influencing Russia at this moment in
time I think it will be very interesting
to hear what the Chinese foreign
minister says here on Saturday who
wouldn't condemn that War uh directly in
the past but also China sending slightly
mixed signals being an ally of Russia
but at the same time uh not wanting any
more conflict this is clearly also
hurting Chinese interests so that will
be a very interesting voice to listen to
here but as you said Alexa navali
deliberately left the safety of Germany
and went back to Russia so few people
are surprised that this is how his life
was tragically taken from him uh by the
Russian regime really uh that um is
clearly sending a message if anybody
needed it that engagement with Russia's
not just difficult it probably is um not
very constructive at this point in time
we'll leave it there for the time being
but thanks so much for joining us DW's
Chief political editor mner joining us
from the bishov the venue of the Munich
security conference there thanks so
much Alexa naali was the most PR Russian
opposition figure here's a closer look
at his life and resistance to Putin's
Russia it didn't take long for Alexa
naali to become Russia's leading
opposition figure but his high-profile
angered the state the former lawyer was
regularly arrested and jailed for his
anti-corruption
campaigns he also face numerous criminal
probes including embezzlement charges
which eventually led to a
conviction he and his supporters always
maintained the charges were politically
motivated in 2013 navali ran in the
Moscow maral election his second place
galvanized his supporters and in 2016 he
said he'd stand for president against
Vladimir
Putin his growing political profile only
earned him more enemies he faced attacks
like this one at an airport in southern
Russia a year later he was hospitalized
after being hit with green chemical dye
leaving him almost blind in one
eye naali was barred from running
against Putin in the 2018 election
because of his embezzlement
conviction
but nothing could stop him from
campaigning against the president and
Russian
corruption not even frequent
arrests in December 2019 authorities
raided his anti-corruption foundation
office the
fbk the following July he was forced to
shut it
down attention this is not an emergency
drill fbk is
closing and then a month later came the
poisoning in
Siberia navali was left in a coma
doctors believe he swallowed poison
while drinking
tea he was eventually flown to Berlin
where he spent several weeks in
intensive care confirmation that it was
a chemical attack caused a diplomatic
standoff with
Moscow the Kremlin denied it had
anything to do with the assassination
attempt the last thing Putin can do is
put a large placard on the Kremlin which
says Alexi please under no circumstances
return back home but coming to Germany
was not my choice it's a cool country
but I'm not here on my own free will I'm
here because they tried to kill
me
despite the risks in January 2021 alexe
naali flew back to
Russia and was immediately
arrested protests took place across the
country that officials quickly stamped
out but the Kremlin critic couldn't be
silenced within days of his arrest his
his team released a pre-recorded video
in which he claimed Putin owned a lavish
secret Palace worth billions alleging it
was all financed by taxpayers money
Moscow denied the claims but the story
quickly went
viral yet more proof of the political
Leader's influence and
appeal he continued to manage the
opposition movement he founded from
behind bars resulting in ever longer
jail
terms by August 2023 he'd been sentenced
to more than 30 years his supporters
convinced the Russian state had finally
succeeded in silencing its most vocal
critic