Zelenskyy blames Putin for Navalny’s death as leaders voice outrage

MUNICH — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn't mince words Friday about who he holds responsible for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny: Vladimir Putin.

"It is obvious to me: He was killed — like other thousands who were tortured to death because of this one man," Zelenskyy said of the Russian president, during a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Zelenskyy's voice was part of a global wave of outrage following the announcement that Navalny had died in a Russian prison colony.

Navalny's wife Yulia was in Germany at the Munich Security Conference when the news of her husband's death broke. She had been scheduled to "talk about a better Russia," the event's chair Christoph Heusgen said from the stage.

She later said she wasn't sure whether to believe the news coming from Russia, noting the Kremlin often lies.

But if it's true, she said Putin and his staff "should know they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with our family and with my husband. They will be brought to justice. This day will come soon."

Businessman Bill Browder, who was himself targeted by the Putin regime, told POLITICO at the Munich summit: “This is not a death, this is a murder.”

“This was a murder that was orchestrated by Vladimir Putin," he added. "Putin tried to kill him in 2020. He failed. He succeeded today. Putin cannot tolerate any kind of dissent. He cannot tolerate any kind of opposition. This is a message to everybody else in Russia, that you die if you stand up to him.”

Also in Munich, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: "I am deeply saddened and concerned about the reports coming from Russia that Alexei Navalny is dead. All the facts have to be established ... Russia has serious questions to answer."

He added that Navalny had been a strong voice for freedom and for democracy for many years: "NATO and NATO allies have called for his immediate release for a long time. Today, my thoughts go to his family and his loved ones. Russia has become more and more an authoritarian power."

The news prompted dismay among other leading politicians in the region who oppose Russian imperialism.

“The indecisiveness of the democratic world is seen as weakness by dictators, and they like testing how far they can go without a response," Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader, told POLITICO.

She also tweeted: "I urge the global community to act now to protect my husband & other political prisoners, who are in great danger." Her husband Sergei  has been a prisoner of Belarusian dictator and Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko since 2020.

In Berlin, Scholz called the news "a terrible thing," adding: "It is also a sign of how Russia has changed, after the hopeful developments toward democracy that have unfortunately already taken place."

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak used similar words, describing Navalny's death as "terrible news." He added: "As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life."

French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said: "Alexei Navalny paid with his life for his resistance to a system of oppression. His death in a penal colony reminds us of the reality of Vladimir Putin's regime."

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister who is favorite to take over as NATO chief later this year, said he was "shocked" by the news, adding it "marks the unprecedented brutality of the Russian regime."

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: "The immediate reaction of NATO leaders to Navalny's death in the form of direct accusations against Russia is self-exposing. There is still no forensic examination, yet Western conclusions are already prepared."

The news from Russia hit the Munich conference like a "thunderclap," said Eric Pelofsky, vice president with the Rockefeller Foundation.

One of the overarching themes of the conference is to call for higher defense spending and to better prepare the world to fend off possible Russian aggression.

A particular concern is the Ukraine aid package that is stalled in the U.S. Congress thanks to resistance from some Republican members of the House of Representatives.

"If reports are true, and I hope they aren’t, I am saddened to learn of @navalny’s death. His work to bring freedom and truth to #Russia were truly brave. Others must take up his mantle," tweeted Republican Senator Jim Risch.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that for "more than a decade" the Russian government had "persecuted, poisoned, and imprisoned" Navalny. Blinken added that "his death in a Russian prison and the fixation and fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built. Russia is responsible for this. "

This article has been updated.