Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was apparently in good spirits and cracking jokes at a court appearance the day before officials announced he died, according to a video that circulated online Friday.
During the Thursday court appearance, Navalny was joking with the judge, asking him to help him out financially since he was running out of money in his prison account due to fines.
“Your honor, I will send you my personal account number so that you can use your huge salary as a federal judge to ‘warm up’ my personal account, because I am running out of money,” the video shows him saying.
Navalny, seen speaking through bars on a television screen in the courtroom, showed no obvious signs of ill health and laughed as he spoke.
The Russian Federal Prison Service said Navalny felt unwell after a walk Friday and lost consciousness. An ambulance arrived and its crew tried to revive him, but attempts were unsuccessful.
Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism that he claims are political. In December, he was moved from a different prison to the highest-security level facility near the Arctic Circle.
He had been imprisoned since January 2021, when he returned to Russia after recovering from a poisoning that he blamed on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin has denied trying to kill Navalny with the nerve agent.
The activist disappeared for about three weeks prior to his prison transfer. He finally emerged back in public at the new prison facility and was making light of the matter in posts online.
“I am your new Santa Claus,” Navalny wrote on X, saying he had grown a beard and was sporting a new sheepskin coat and fur hat. “Unfortunately, there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy, and very beautiful shepherd dogs.”
Over the last decade, Navalny became a prominent public figure for campaigning against official corruption and organizing anti-Kremlin protests. He was the most prominent opposition leader to Putin’s rule in recent years. Over time, he built up a considerable following and was popular for his videos highlighting Kremlin corruption.
The U.S. has previously condemned his jailing and poisoning. It had not confirmed his death as of Friday morning, and his lawyers said they were working to confirm the news.
Navalny’s death comes as Russia’s war with Ukraine nears its 2nd anniversary, and Putin has expressed confidence that the war will grow. The Kremlin said later Friday that Putin had been notified about Navalny’s death.