2 years on, Navalny's death still casts a shadow over Russia and wider
Europe
[February 17, 2026]
MOSCOW (AP) — Mourners gathered in Moscow Monday to mark two years since
the death in custody of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, under
the shadow of a Kremlin crackdown and just two days since a new analysis
reinforced suspicions that he was killed by poisoning.
Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024, while serving a
19-year sentence that many believed to be politically motivated. His
death at the age of 47 left the Russian opposition leaderless and
divided, struggling to build an effective or united front without one of
its most visible and charismatic figures.
On the second anniversary of Navalny’s death, we look at the latest
investigation into its cause and the continuing political repercussions,
both within Russia and beyond.
Across Russia, Navalny’s supporters pay their respects
Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, and his mother-in-law, Alla
Abrosimova, were among the mourners laying flowers on his grave. A mound
of bouquets rose above the heavy drifts of snow that blanketed Moscow’s
Borisovsky Cemetery.
Representatives from several European embassies also paid their
respects, watched by a conspicuously high security presence. Later, a
small choir gathered to sing by Navalny’s graveside.
Addressing the crowd, Lyudmila Navalnaya restated her belief that her
son was killed by the Russian authorities, a scenario which has also
been backed by several European countries in recent days. “We knew that
our son did not simply die in prison,” she said. “He was murdered.”
The Kremlin has denied the allegations, saying that Navalny died of
natural causes.
Flowers were also laid at the memorial to the victims of political
repression in St Petersburg. Access to the site was later blocked with
temporary fences, local news outlets reported.
European nations believe Navalny was poisoned
The anniversary coincides with the release of a joint statement by five
European countries, which said that Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin
with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs.
The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the
Netherlands said on Saturday that analysis in European labs of samples
taken from Navalny’s body “conclusively confirmed the presence of
epibatidine.” The neurotoxin secreted by dart frogs in South America is
not found naturally in Russia, they said.
A joint statement said: “Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to
administer this poison.”
In a written tribute to Navalny on Monday, French President Emmanuel
Macron also linked the Kremlin with the opposition leader’s death.
“Two years ago, the world learned of the death of Alexei Navalny. I pay
tribute to his memory,” Macron wrote on social media. “I said then that
I believed his death said everything about the Kremlin’s weakness and
its fear of any opponent. It is now clear that this death was
premeditated.
“Truth always prevails, while we await justice to do the same.”
Moscow has vehemently denied its involvement in Navalny’s death, saying
that the politician had become unwell after going for a walk.
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Late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's mother Lyudmila
Navalnaya, right, and his mother-in-law Alla Abrosimova, center, lay
flowers at his grave, two years after his death, at the Borisovskoye
Cemetery in Moscow, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander
Zemlianichenko)
When asked about the allegations by journalists on Monday,
presidential spokesperson said that the Kremlin does “not accept
such accusations.”
“We consider them biased and unfounded. In fact, we resolutely
reject them,” he said.
Saturday’s announcement came as Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya,
attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany. She said she had
been “certain from the first day” that her husband had been
poisoned, “but now there is proof.”
“Putin killed Alexei with a chemical weapon,” she wrote on social
media, describing the Russian leader as “a murderer” who “must be
held accountable.”
Navalny was the target of an earlier poisoning in 2020, with a nerve
agent in an attack he blamed on the Kremlin, which always denied
involvement. His family and allies fought to have him flown to
Germany for treatment and recovery. Five months later, he returned
to Russia, where he was immediately arrested and imprisoned for the
last three years of his life.
Russia’s opposition is struggling to start a new chapter
Navalny’s closest allies, as well as other key members of Russia’s
opposition, now continue their fight from exile.
Many have been handed lengthy prison sentences in absentia in Russia
and are unable to return home. Some have been designated “terrorists
and extremists” by the authorities, a designation that was also
applied to Navalny in January 2022.
Yet Russia’s opposition has failed to form a united front and a
clear plan of action against the Kremlin. Instead, rival groups have
traded accusations that some see as efforts to discredit each other
and vie for influence.
In one small victory for opposition activists, Europe’s leading
human rights body, PACE, announced in late January the creation of a
new body — the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces
— tasked with giving opposition Russians a voice and a formal
platform to engage European lawmakers.
It has been heralded as a victory for anti-war Russians, but also
attracted criticism as the body was not elected democratically.
Members of Navalny’s anti-corruption organization are also absent
from the group
In a statement to mark Navalny’s death, Russian members of the
Council of Europe’s human rights body, PACE, said that Navalny’s
death was “an inevitable link in a chain of systemic crimes by the
Kremlin regime against its own citizens and the citizens of foreign
states.”
“Alexei Navalny gave his life for a free Russia,” the statement
said. “We are obliged to ensure that his death was not in vain.”
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