Death of Alexei Navalny: MEPs to hear testimonies from the Russian opposition

Following the death of prominent Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, MEPs will discuss the state of Russia’s democratic opposition on Thursday at 10.30.

Alexei Navalny, one of Russia’s most well-known anti-corruption activists, an opposition politician and an ardent critic of President Vladimir Putin, died under mysterious circumstances in a remote penal colony in the Russian Arctic on Friday 16 February, while serving a long prison sentence on trumped-up charges.

WHEN: Thursday 22 February 2024, 10.30 – 11.30 CET.

WHERE: Room 4Q2 in the European Parliament’s ANTALL building in Brussels.

At Thursday’s joint meeting of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Human Rights and Delegation for relations with Russia, MEPs will discuss the state of Russia’s democratic opposition movement ahead of the country’s presidential elections scheduled for 15-17 March 2024. They will also examine the latest developments regarding the inhuman prison conditions in which Alexei Navalny was kept and his subsequent death, as well as the situation of all those Russian opposition voices currently behind bars.

The following guests will give testimonies to MEPs:

• Leonid Volkov, Chief of staff of Alexei Navalny, Anti-Corruption Foundation (remotely);
• Evgenia Kara-Murza, Advocacy Director at the Free Russia Foundation, wife of political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza;
• Vladimir Milov, Vice-President of the Free Russia Foundation, former Vice-Minister of Energy of Russia.