Attacked Navalny ally will “never give up” the fight

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.”

In his first television interview since the brutal hammer attack in March outside his home in Lithuania, where he lives in exile, Volkov told the BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” that the message behind the attack was: “We know where you live, we can kill you, we are after you.”

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

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

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

He said: “We always knew that we were fighting against a mad, fascist dictator who knows no red lines.”

He said Putin would “kill thousands of people,” whether they were political opponents at home, in Europe or in Ukraine.

Mr Navalny’s adviser warned that there was “no magic trick” that could overthrow the Russian regime.

He called on Western allies to supply more weapons to Ukraine and not to consider negotiations with Russia despite recent advances.

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

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

He said: “If there are 50 things we can do, we must do all 50 of them. If we do 49, that is not enough, because that is the greatest threat to the world that we have seen in 80 years.”

Daily danger

Mr Volkov’s determination is remarkable. He barely bats an eyelid as he describes to me how his attackers smashed his car window in March and used pepper spray and hammers to hit him on the legs.

He seems almost surprised that people made such a fuss about him being violently attacked in front of his own home, even though he has been living outside Russia for years for security reasons.

There is no question that he will abandon his work for the Navalny Foundation, advocate for tougher sanctions against Putin’s allies, expose corruption in the regime, and try to exploit every weakness of the Kremlin and build political support.

Our politicians talk so often about the need to stand up to the Russian president while fighting over defense funds and additional weapons to support Ukraine.

But Russian opposition activists live in danger every day.

Alexei Navalny was not the first victim of the political struggle against Vladimir Putin’s repressive regime. And perhaps he will not be the last.

Watch Leonid Volkov’s interview with Laura Kuenssberg live on BBC One on Sunday and iPlayer from 09:00 BST on Sunday 19 May