The widow of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is awarded this year’s DW Freedom of Speech Award. She has declared that she is continuing her husband’s work. Three days after the death of Alexei Navalny in a forced labor camp in Siberia, in February 2024, his wife declared that she will take over the directorship of the “Foundation Against Corruption” (FBK ), which he had founded in 2011, as a non-profit organization. The purpose of the foundation is to publicize cases of corruption and abuse of power in the Russian elites.

Now Deutsche Welle is honoring Yulia Navalnaya and the “Anti-Corruption Foundation” with the Freedom of Speech Award, awarded for the tenth year. In justifying the award, DW Director General Peter Liburg praised the “unwavering courage” with which Navalnaya and her colleagues are fighting for a free Russia. She herself had supported her husband’s political activity from the first moment, despite the dangers, constant threats and personal restrictions he had to endure.

He didn’t want to get involved in politics

Analysts believe that by accepting her husband’s political legacy, Yulia Navalnaya heralds her own political career. Some see her as the new face of the Russian opposition. And yet, she herself did not want to get involved in politics.

They met Alexei Navalny in 1998, when they were both on vacation in Turkey. In 2000 they got married, a year later their daughter, Daria, was born, and in 2008 their son, Sahar. Navalnaya studied International Economic Relations at Plekhanov University in Moscow. But instead of devoting herself to her own career, she decided to support her husband’s activities.

In the 2000s the couple joined the liberal party Jabloko. While Alexei Navalny became more and more famous, Yulia Navalnaya was his “invisible assistant”, as she stated in 2014 to Afisha magazine. The magazine dedicated its cover to her, with the title: “The most powerful sex”. For the first time the Russian press had mentioned her name when her husband was arrested by the Russian police for his participation in an anti-government demonstration and she, together with other opposition supporters, began to search all the penitentiaries in Moscow to locate him.

“The Most Dramatic Day”

However, she said that “the most dramatic day” she remembers was in 2013, when her husband was sentenced to five years in prison for alleged financial irregularities. Yulia Navalnaya left the courtroom sullen, prepared for all eventualities. However, due to strong reactions, the judges decided to suspend the execution of the sentence.

In fact, her first appearance on the political stage took place in 2013, when she participated in the election campaign of Alexei Navalny, who was running for mayor of Moscow. In the end he came second with about 27% of the votes, while the winner was Sergey Sobyanin. At that moment Yulia Navalnaya established herself as the first lady of the new leader of the Russian opposition.

The next tough test came in the summer of 2020 in Omsk, when Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a neurotoxic substance. Doctor Alexander Polupan remembers that at that time Yulia Navalnaya showed composure and self-confidence. She even believes that the decision to transfer Navalny to Germany for treatment is due to her persistence. She had made a personal appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow her husband’s transfer. Putin would later state that he himself intervened in the Prosecutor’s Office, requesting that Alexei Navalny be allowed to leave the country.

“Symbol of Moral Resistance”

Political scientist Dmitry Oreskin believes that Yulia Navalnaya could emerge as a symbol of resistance against the “male tyranny” prevailing in Russia. As he writes, most women in the country are at a standstill as “their husbands have been killed, their brothers have joined the army, their sons have been sent to certain death in Ukraine.” These women “do not follow ideologies, they simply want their loved ones back”.

“Yulia Navalnaya can emerge as a symbol of moral resistance,” says Andrei Kolesnikov, a fellow at the Carnegie Foundation in Washington. “And if there is ever talk of a female candidate in the presidential elections, with democratic ideas, then of course, for millions of people, Yulia Navalnaya will be the best choice,” he notes.

After the death of her husband, Yulia Navalnaya herself said that “by killing Alexei, Putin killed one half of me, half of my heart, half of my soul. But the other half is full of rage and hatred, which motivates her to complete the dream” of building a Russia “with dignity, justice and love”.

The Freedom of Speech Award will be presented to Yulia Navalnaya at a special ceremony on June 5 in Berlin. The address will be made by the Minister of Finance and president of the Liberal Party (FDP) Christian Lindner.

Edited by: Yiannis Papadimitriou