Vladimir Putin is the head of an organized criminal band – she stated on Wednesday in the European Parliament the widow of Russian oppositionist Alexey Navalny, Julia. She added that to beat the Kremlin, you should act innovatively.
photo. Mr Ronald Wittek/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock “If you truly want to beat Putin, we must act innovatively. You gotta halt being boring. Putin will not be harmed by another resolution or further sanctions that will not be different from the others. You can't beat him, reasoning he's a man of principle, morality. He's not like that. Alexey realized this a long time ago," said Julia Nawalna in a speech given at the EP plenary session in Strasbourg.
"You are not dealing with a politician, but with a bloody gangster. Putin is the head of an organized criminal gang," she stressed. She said, “There are poisoners and bombers in this gang”, but “they are just puppets.”
"The most crucial are his friends – they keep the mafia's money. Political innovation is about applying methods to combat organised crime alternatively than political methods. Not diplomatic notes, but investigations into financial machinations. Not to my concern, but above all, to search all members of this mob in your country. All those lawyers and financiers helping Putin hide his money. In this fight you have truly good allies – tens of millions of Russians who are against Putin, against war. Against his evil. They should not be persecuted. On the contrary, they request to be worked with," the widow of Alexey Navalny appealed.
She recalled that last Saturday it was 2 years since Putin started the war against Ukraine. "War of brutal and sneaky. The full planet has decided to aid Ukraine, but it has been 2 years and at the minute we are dealing with fatigue and disappointment," Nawalna noted, lamenting that Vladimir Putin's position in Russia remains strong despite West sanctions and sending arms and money to Ukraine.
"The worst thing has happened – everyone is utilized to war," she added.
“And then Putin killed my husband, Alexey Navalny. It was on his orders that Alexey was tortured for 3 years. He was starved in a tiny stone cell. Cut off from the outside world. Without access to visits, telephone calls, even letters. Then they killed him. On the 1 hand, this killing has demonstrated that Putin is capable of anything and that he cannot be negotiated with. (...) On the another hand, many people have the impression that Putin cannot be defeated at all,” said Julia Nawalna.
"Putin must answer for what he did to my country. He has to answer for what he did to our peaceful neighbor. And Putin must answer for everything he did to Alexey," she stressed.
Russian prison services reported on 16 February that oppositionist, 47-year-old Alexey Navalny died abruptly in a penal colony behind a Arctic ellipse in the Jamal-German Autonomous District. Navalny was to “feel bad” and “lost consciousness.” Despite emergency calls and resuscitation attempts, the oppositionist died – the prison services maintained.
In January, it was 3 years since Navalny was arrested and imprisoned after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated after an attempted poisoning, most likely carried out by Russian peculiar services. The authorities have brought further criminal proceedings against him, resulting in judgments of more than 30 years in total.
The ceremony of Alexey Navalny will take place on Friday 1 March in Moscow at Borisowski Cemetery.
From Brussels Artur Ciechanowicz, from Strasbourg Łukasz Osiński (PAP)
