Navalny’s ally Leonid Volkov says the fight against Putin will never end

Alexei Navalny’s close ally Leonid Volkov has vowed to “never give up” the fight against Vladimir Putin so that the late Russian opposition leader’s “ultimate sacrifice” will not be in vain.

Last month, three people were arrested in connection with the incident, which Mr. Navalny’s longtime chief of staff said was ordered by President Putin’s regime.

He said there was “no replacement” for Mr Navalny, but “everyone” sees his wife Yulia Navalnaya as the new “charismatic” leader of the opposition movement, even if “she never wanted to be in this public role”.

Mr Volkov said his friend’s death was an “open wound in our hearts”.

He said: “We always knew we were fighting a crazy, fascist dictator who had no red lines.”

He said Mr. Putin was killing “thousands of people,” whether political opponents at home, in Europe or in Ukraine.

Mr Navalny’s adviser warned that there was “not a single magic trick” that could topple the Russian regime.

He called on Western allies to send more weapons to Ukraine and not to consider negotiations despite Russia’s recent advances.

He said Mr Putin was “bluffing in a way to portray himself as much stronger than he is, in the hope that this will be enough to force Ukraine and its Western allies to negotiate…don’t be bluffed.” “.

Mr. Volkov added that “military pressure, economic pressure, political pressure from within and without” must be brought to bear on Mr. Putin.

He said, “If we can do 50 things, we must do all 50.” If you do 49, that’s not enough because that’s the biggest threat to the world we’ve seen in 80 years.”

Mr. Volkov’s determination is remarkable. He barely flinches as he tells me how his car window was smashed by his attackers in March and how they used pepper spray and hammers to hit his legs.

He almost seems surprised that people have made a big deal about how he was violently attacked outside his own home, even though he has lived outside Russia for years for security reasons.

There is no question that he is abandoning his work for the Navalny Foundation, pushing for tougher sanctions against Putin’s allies, exposing corruption in the regime and trying to exploit any Kremlin weakness and build political support.

Our politicians talk so often about the need to stand up to the Russian leader as they fight over defense resources and additional weapons to support Ukraine.

But Russian opposition activists live with danger every day.

Alexei Navalny was not the first victim in the political fight against Vladimir Putin’s repressive regime. He may not be the last.