The wife of Igor Girkin says that she is "very worried" about her imprisoned husband following the death of Alexei Navalny, a fellow jailed critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service announced that Navalny died in prison on Friday after allegedly fainting following a walk. While Russian state news outlet RT claimed that Navalny died from a blood clot, suspicions of an assassination were immediately cast on Putin, who allegedly poisoned him in 2020 and has previously been accused of ordering the deaths of several other critics.
Girkin, also known by the alias Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, is a former soldier and far-right Russian nationalist military blogger who previously played a key role in Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. He was also accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, an act that killed 298 civilians.
After ramping up criticism of Russia's "mediocre" performance in the Ukraine war and calling Putin a "lowlife," Girkin was sentenced to four years in prison in January for "incitement to extremism." While Navalny was politically moderate, he expressed support for Girkin after his arrest last year, saying that was being held on a "ridiculous and obviously politically motivated charge."
Miroslava Reginskaya, Girkin's wife, said in a Telegram post on Friday that she was "very worried about [her] husband." In a subsequent post, she stressed that Girkin was in good health and suggested that he was unlikely to die in prison of natural causes.
"In light of the current events, I would like to inform you that the health of Igor Strelkov, who is in custody, is now stable and does not cause concern," Reginskaya wrote. "A lawyer who recently visited him notes that Igor looks healthy and cheerful, and has no complaints about his health.
"There are, of course, no suicidal feelings: Igor reads books, composes fairy tales for his daughter, draws pictures for her," she added. "He doesn't get depressed... nothing bad related to health in itself can happen to Igor. We all understand that detention can be dangerous to human life and health. Especially for someone objectionable to the system."
Newsweek reached out for comment to Putin's office via email on Friday night.
President Joe Biden pointed the finger squarely at Putin for Navalny's death during a briefing on Friday, saying that the Russian president "inflicts terrible crimes on his own people" in addition to "what's going on in Ukraine right now."
"Russian authorities are going to tell their own story," Biden said. "But make no mistake... Putin is responsible for Navalny's death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality. No one should be fooled—not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world."
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, said during an unscheduled speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday that Putin would be "brought to justice" for the death of her husband and other alleged crimes.
"I would like Putin and all his staff—everybody around him, his government, his friends—I want them to know that they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with my family, and with my husband," Navalnaya said. "They will be brought to justice. And this day will come soon."
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
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