Daughter of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny:

INTERVIEW .. The poisoning of my father indicates that he was right in what he was doing

• Navalny poses a challenge to the Russian regime.

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• Daria Navalny.

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After her father was persecuted, poisoned and imprisoned, Daria Navalny, the daughter of the famous Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, discusses her experience during the attack on her father, what he writes to her from prison and how she feels about the perpetrators.

As Daria prepares to speak before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, about her father's ordeal, the German magazine Der Spiegel gave her an interview, the following are excerpts from:

■ Has your father given you any advice regarding your planned pleading in Strasbourg?

■■ I wrote to him: As you know I will speak before the European Parliament, and you also know that I am 20 years old, and I am not used to such things.

He said to me: Speak from your heart!

But I have never made an important speech before members of Parliament, and it seems not good advice to me;

So I wrote to him again and said to him: Let's take the letter point by point.

What I say and what I do not say is my opinion, so I agree with that.

I am, of course, pleased that he chose me to accept the award on his behalf.

■ You grew up as the daughter of an opposition politician hated by Russian leaders in Moscow.. How did that shape your childhood and youth?

■■ I was born into a normal family and had a normal childhood. When I was 10 years old my dad was detained for the first time. It was something new for me, but I spoke to him and I knew from him that even if the police detained him, he was doing the right thing.

I have always been proud of him even with the fears surrounding our lives and his. He wants the best for his country, and he wants me and my younger brother to have a good future in this country.

■ Did he really want you not to join the opposition demonstrations in Russia?

■■ I was incredibly drawn to these demonstrations, but he always told me: There should be one Navalny in prison.. You should stay at home, and I don't need to worry about you being detained while I'm in prison.

■ In 2017, you were with your father on the podium at an important moment in his career when his supporters nominated him to run in the elections, you and your brother Zakhar and your mother were there as well.

Having the family there at such a moment was unusual in Russia.

It was more like an American election campaign, what is your comment on that?

■■ It was not an American approach but a more democratic approach: you have to show yourself to the people and not just run and not campaign.

People should be able to see who you are and the values ​​you represent.

And my father can show that very well.

■ Did you fear for your father's life or health?

■■ I first realized the dangers he faced when they sprayed a solution on his face in 2017, and that's when I realized that Kremlin supporters would do anything to quell him. Major surgery was needed to save his cornea.

It was really dangerous.

■ Were you afraid for yourself too?

■■ I was more afraid of my parents.

The idea that they might attack the little ones seemed absurd to me;

So I stayed calm, and on top of that I was surrounded by friends who supported my father's cause.

■ How do you feel about the alleged perpetrators?

■■ They are in fact following orders to kill a person blindly just because he does not agree with the way our country works and poisoning my father shows that he is doing something right.

I fear for his life, but it also means that he is doing something right.

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