Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said he is “deeply shocked" by the reports of Russian opposition politician and regime critic Alexei Navalny’s death.
"His death underpins the lack of respect for the rule of law and protection of human rights in Russia, and is a reminder of the repressive nature of the regime against its own people,” Martin said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Navalny, 47, died in a Russian penal colony in Siberia where he was serving a lengthy sentence on charges that western governments, and indeed many in Russia, viewed as being trumped up by the Vladimir Putin-led government.
U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said reports of Mr. Navalny’s death “underscore the weakness and rot at the heart” of Putin’s Russia.
Stated Senator Chalres Schumer: “Responsibility for Alexis Navalny’s sham imprisonment and shocking death lies with Putin. He is a murderous autocrat and this only underscores the urgent need for the House GOP to stop blocking the bipartisan supplemental bill we passed in the Senate with 70 votes, which would help the Ukrainian people fight Putin’s illegal, immoral war.”
Evika Siliņa, prime minister of Latvia, accused the Putin regime of torturing to death “one of the last symbols of democracy in Russia."
