‘Autocracy Will Always Crumble’: Metsola Welcomes Alexei Navalny’s Wife In European Parliament
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the recently deceased anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, addressed the European Parliament yesterday.
Welcoming Navalnaya to the chamber, EP President Roberta Metsola said, “For many in Russia and beyond, Alexei Navalny represented hope. Hope for better days. Hope for a free Russia. Hope for the future.”
“If history teaches us anything, it is that the pillars of autocracy, in the end, always crumble under the weight of their own corruption and the people’s inherent desire to live freely. And when they inevitably do, it will be thanks to what Alexei and your family did,” Metsola said, addressing the chamber and Navalnaya.
Metsola met Navalnaya last week and invited her to address a plenary session in Strasbourg.
During her address on Wednesday, Navalnaya implicated Russian authorities under the leadership of President Putin in orchestrating her husband’s assassination. She emphasized that the brazen act of murder served as yet another testament that “Putin is capable of anything and that you cannot negotiate with him”. She also voiced concern over the fact that none of the EU’s current restrictive measures have curbed Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
With this objective in mind, she advocated for more innovative strategies to counter Putin’s regime, both domestically and in its dealings with neighboring countries.
“If you really want to defeat Putin, you have to become an innovator (…) You can’t hurt Putin with another resolution or another set of sanctions that is no different from the previous ones (…) You aren’t dealing with a politician but with a bloody mobster (…) The most important thing is the people close to Putin, his friends, associates, and keepers of the mafia’s money (…) You, and all of us, must fight this criminal gang.”
She further asserted that, in this context, political innovation entails combating organized crime rather than engaging in political rivalry.
“No diplomatic notes, but investigations into the financial machinations. Not statements of concern, but a search for mafia associates in your countries, for the discreet lawyers and financiers who are helping Putin and his friends to hide money”.
“In this fight you have reliable allies – there are tens of millions of Russians who are against Putin, against the war, against the evil he brings,” she continued, insisting that “Putin must answer for what he has done to my country. Putin must answer for what he has done to a neighboring peaceful country. And Putin must answer for everything he has done to Alexei”.
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