Alexei Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya gets German press award

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, received a prestigious press prize from a German publishing house in Bavaria. At the event, on Friday, April 19, Navalnaya reaffirmed her unwavering commitment to promoting media freedom and carrying on her late husband's legacy.

Navalnaya was adamant in her desire to support press freedom in Russia. She affirmed her dedication to ensure that "Russians who stand against Putin and war have access to uncensored information they can trust and share."

During her acceptance speech, Navalnaya reiterated her earlier statements, alleging Russian President Vladimir Putin's involvement in her husband's death while in prison.

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In a recent interview with Time magazine, Navalnaya revealed that she hired a bodyguard following an attack on a close acquaintance of her late husband. Leonid Volkov, a close assistant of Navalny, was attacked with a hammer outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, and suffered serious injuries.

Navalny's posthumous memoir, titled 'Patriot,' is set to be released on October 22 by US publisher Alfred A. Knopf. The memoir, completed before Navalny's death in a Russian prison in 2024, offers a comprehensive account of his life, activism, and unwavering commitment to the cause of Russian democracy.

Yulia Navalnaya, who is collaborating with publishers to finalise the manuscript, emphasises that the 'Patriot' is “a testament not only to Alexei’s life but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship – a fight he gave everything for, including his life.”

"It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, and his commitment to the cause of Russian democracy and freedom in the face of a world super-power determined to silence him," Knopf's statement read. "It expresses Navalny's total conviction that change cannot be resisted and will come," the publisher wrote.