‘Will fight tyranny’: Jailed Russian activist Yashin vows to continue fighting after Alexei Navalny’s death

One of the most prominent jailed Russian opposition politicians, Ilya Yashin, on Tuesday (Feb 20) said that he vows to continue fighting for democracy in Russia after learning about the death of his friend and colleague Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. He also accused President Vladimir Putin of killing Navalny while acknowledging that his life was also in the Russian leader’s hands.

‘I will fight tyranny’

“As long as my heart beats in my chest, I will fight tyranny. As long as I live, I will fear no evil,” Yashin said in a post on social media, communicated through his lawyer. He added, “Of course, I understand the risks I face. I’m behind bars. My life is in Putin’s hands and it’s in danger.”

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Yashin was an ally of Navalny and close to former Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov who was shot dead near the Kremlin while walking home across the Moscow bridge in 2015. The 55-year-old was a vocal critic of Putin’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. 

“We shared a common cause and dedicated our lives to making Russia peaceful, free and happy. Now both my friends are dead,” said Yashin. 

Navalny’s death has sparked outrage across the world and raised fears for his allies, some of whom are imprisoned. Yashin learned about his friend and ally’s death in his prison near Smolensk in western Russia where he is serving his eight-and-a-half years sentence. 

“In Putin’s understanding, this is how power is asserted – through murder, cruelty and demonstrative revenge,” said Yashin blaming Navalny’s death on the Kremlin. 

‘Murdered’

Yashin, a long-time ally of Navalny and the former head of an opposition party was sentenced in December 2022, months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The 40-year-old was sentenced for statements he made about war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. 

Russia passed a law days after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 which criminalised “spreading false information” about the country’s armed forces. 

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“I don’t doubt that he didn’t just die but was murdered, and that the order to kill was given by Putin. His security services had already made an attempt on his life back in 2020, and they now have seen it through,” Yashin wrote to the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail on Monday (Feb 19).

The jailed Russian activist was referring to the time when Navalny was allegedly poisoned by a nerve agent in 2020. 

The Russian president has no “no moral or legal limitations” and each of their lives is in danger, he added. “I understand that. However, it doesn’t change anything for me. I find it to be beneath my dignity to be scared of a thug,” said Yashin. 

Putin silent over Navalny’s death

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say how the Russian president reacted to his main opponent’s death. 

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Navalny, Putin’s most vocal critic, died on Friday (Feb 16) at the age of 47 after collapsing at the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a long jail term. 

(With inputs from agencies)