But his wife, Yulia, stepped in. She flew to Omsk to confront hospital staff, bringing along camera crews to put pressure on doctors and appealing directly to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to release her husband.
Soon, Navalny was evacuated to Germany, where he recovered at Berlin's Charité hospital.
"She was the person who got Alexei evacuated to Germany for treatment after two days of fighting in Omsk," said Kira Yarmysh, an aide to Navalny, yesterday.
"She was with him while he was recovering and when he returned to Russia. She was fiercely brave, and Alexei was only able to be evacuated because of her." Yulia Navalnaya never sought the spotlight. But after her husband died in a prison colony on Friday, she has stepped into it, announcing in a new video that she would "continue the work of Alexei Navalny. To continue to fight for our country. And I call on you to stand beside me." Allies and friends described her as a fierce supporter of her husband who had always resisted a public political life, but who worked behind the scenes to support him and the movement he built.
"We have discussed this with her many times - when Alexei was under house arrest or in jail," said Sergei Guriev, a professor of economics at Sciences Po close to the Navalny family who has spoken with Yulia in recent days.
"She would always say that having lived with a politician, she saw how dangerous and difficult this job is.
And before, she would always know that Alexei was alive and would be back. But this time around - as she has clearly explained in her statement - she had no choice." Born in 1976 in a Moscow family to a respected scientist and civil servant, Navalnaya studied economics and worked in banking before she left to raise the couple's two children.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 20, 2024 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 20, 2024 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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