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Commemoration of Alexei Navalny in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw: “No rule lasts forever”

Photo: Dawid Zuchowicz / Agencja Wyborcza / REUTERS

The news of Alexei Navalny's death in a Russian prison camp caused great consternation. In Russia, more than a hundred people were arrested during commemorative events, and Great Britain called in Moscow embassy staff. Many media outlets also denounce the cruelty of Vladimir Putin's regime.

The

Washington Post

commented that Putin saw Navalny as “a real rival.” The news of the death is “an enormous loss (...) for the ideal of a free and democratic Russia. But such ideals cannot be killed. Navalny’s legacy will be a never-ending struggle to realize it.”

The "

Guardian

" from London commented that so far the deaths of Kremlin critics abroad have only resulted in limited sanctions, but now a "discussion about handing over frozen Russian assets to Kiev could intensify." However, states that have not yet condemned Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine are unlikely to change that because of Navalny. »His death underlines that it is hardly possible to question the status quo. But it also makes clear how rotten the regime is at its core.”

"

De Standaard

" from Belgium writes: "In a country where the media obeys instructions from the Kremlin, the opposition has been silenced and nobody knows what the population really thinks, it is difficult to assess what Navalny actually meant to the Russians." The newspaper points out that Navalny's death is not special news for the Russian media.

“Alexei Navalny experienced a painful death in installments in a Siberian penal colony,” writes the Magdeburg

“Volksstimme”. "

The fact that he returned home after recovering from a poisoning by the Russian secret service in Germany was brave, but ultimately a fatal mistake."

Fear of attack on NATO

The Polish daily

Gazeta Wyborcza

writes: “Nawalny's death confirms that Putin will stop at nothing to stay in power. He is prepared to send tens of thousands of faceless citizens to their deaths on the front lines and to have the man who inspired the Russian opposition and the entire free world killed. Against this background, the threats from Russian personalities that Russia will attack the NATO countries and “wipe Warsaw, Berlin and London from the face of the earth” are no longer just empty propaganda threats.

On the occasion of the announcement of Navalny's death, the

"Stuttgarter Zeitung"

also remembers the Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in Moscow in 2015. “Just as there are already Nemtsov Squares in Prague and Vilnius, Navalny Squares will also be created in the West,” she writes. »Neither one nor the other has a place in Russia. Not now. But one hope remains: No rule lasts forever."

The British "

Telegraph

" sees the death report as a warning not to let Western support for Ukraine's fight against the Putin regime slide. "A few days before the second anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Navalny's death should be an important reminder of the reality of Putin's rule," it says. And: "He should sharpen the minds of the western capitals when it comes to deciding on the next round of important military aid for Kiev."

The Italian “

Corriere della Sera

” says of the Russian opposition politician: “Alexei Navalny is a hero. He lived as a hero and died as a hero. So many say they are ready to die for the fatherland. And until then it's rhetoric. But if you really die, in the tyrant's Siberian prisons, then that's not rhetoric." Putin shouldn't win, that would endanger everyone - including in the Western world. "If we understand this, Navalny's sacrifice will not have been in vain."

Navalny's fate is a sign of the "disturbing cruelty" of the Putin regime, writes the "

Neue Zürcher Zeitung

." One should never forget “who the world is dealing with in the Kremlin. For two decades, Putin not only seduced his own people, but he also deceived high-ranking Western politicians about his true nature - to some extent still."

The “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”

sees it similarly : “

The West is – still – free and powerful. He has to stop Putin in Ukraine. For the sake of the people there, for the sake of Alexei Navalny and the other murdered people in Russia. For our own sake.”

"Putin's toughness against domestic political opponents is not a sign of strength, but of weakness and great fear of the Kremlin ruler, because he knows that he will only survive as long as he stays in power," comments the

"Rhein-Zeitung"

. “He sacrifices everything for that.”

The Dutch newspaper

de Volkskrant

writes: "With presidential elections approaching in March, the outcry over Navalny's death seems at first glance to be unfavorable for Putin, but in practice he may have nothing to fear. The most important challengers have now been removed from the electoral list." The effect could be: "If Putin's best-known opponent is not even safe in a prison camp, only a few Russians will dare to raise their voices."

apr/dpa