Governing Mayor: "Berlin mourns the loss of Alexei Navalny"

Kai Wegner, Governing Mayor of Berlin

Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner has reacted with dismay to the news of the death of leading Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in prison.

"The death of Alexei Navalny shows once again how monstrous Putin's regime is," Wegner explained on Friday. "Human life is not worth much in this Russia."

Wegner on the death of Alexei Navalny

With Navalny, a part of open, democratic, European Russia has died, said Wegner. "His death is also a message to us all: we Europeans urgently need to become more resilient. Putin's regime will stop at nothing - except credible and resolute deterrence." Wegner added that Berlin was mourning Navalny. "My thoughts in these hours are with his family, friends and all the courageous people in Russia who continue to fight for a free and democratic Russia."

Demonstration in front of the embassy

Russia's most famous political prisoner died on Friday at the age of 47 in his Siberian penal colony, according to the judiciary. From August 2020 to January 2021, he had received treatment at the Charité hospital in Berlin following an assassination attempt using the nerve agent Novichok. He then returned to Russia - even though he was threatened with imprisonment there. Shortly after the news of Alexei Navalny's death, the first demonstrators protested outside the Russian embassy in Berlin. A few dozen people initially gathered in front of the large embassy building on the boulevard Unter den Linden as early as midday on Friday. Many demonstrators carried placards with a photo of Navalny, others flags or banners. One read: "Putin is a killer". Gradually, the number of people grew. The police accompanied the demonstration.