Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, said early Friday that it’s “crystal clear” Russian President Vladimir Putin killed Alexei Navalny, following reports the opposition leader had died in prison.
“Guys, I don’t know what to say. I’m gonna try to be analytic, but I want you to know Alexei Navalny was my friend. I was with his wife last night … so, this is a pretty emotional time for me,” McFaul said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Putin killed Navalny, let’s be crystal clear about that,” he continued.
The Russian Federal Prison Service said earlier Friday that Navalny felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness. An ambulance arrived at the prison but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
He was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. In December, he was transferred to the country’s highest-level security prison near the Arctic Circle, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.
McFaul, who served as ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, on Friday claimed Putin killed Navalny because the Russian leader is weak.
“Putin killed Navalny because Navalny was the one opposition leader in Russia that Putin feared the most,” he said.
Navalny had been imprisoned since January 2021, when he returned to Russia after recovering from a poisoning he blamed on Putin. Putin has denied trying to kill him with the nerve agent poison.
Navalny was a public figure campaigning against official corruption and organized anti-Kremlin protests while running for public office. He was the most prominent opposition leader to Putin’s rule in the past decade.
Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that her team had no confirmation of his death and that his lawyer was on his way to the prison. She added that she would share more information as soon as possible.
“So, this is a really tragic day for me and it should be a tragic day for anybody who cares about democracy,” McFaul said on MSNBC, adding that Navalny joined a group of brave world leaders like Nelson Mandela and Lech Wałęsa.
McFaul also highlighted the fact Navalny did not have to return to Russia after his poisoning, but he did so because he was a “patriot that believed that his country could be different.”