Alexei Navalny’s widow seeks presidency in a post-Putin Russia

Yulia Navalnaya says she will run for President when she can return to Russia. Photo / AFP

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, says she will seek the Russian presidency should Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin no longer be in power.

In an interview with the BBC, Navalnaya was asked whether she could imagine standing for the presidency.

When the time is right, “I will participate in the elections ... as a candidate”, she said.

“My political opponent is Vladimir Putin. And I will do everything to make his regime fall as soon as possible.”

Navalnaya is promoting the autobiography Patriot by her late husband, who died in a Russian penal colony at the beginning of the year. He was one of Putin’s biggest critics and opponents.

After his death, his wife announced she would continue his opposition work from exile abroad. The circumstances of Navalny’s death have not been clarified, but his wife accused Putin of having him murdered.

Navalnaya said everything had changed in her and her family’s life since her husband’s death. But she explained she had a lot planned in a post-Putin Russia and that had helped her cope.

During Navalny’s time in prison, she felt very close to him. “And of course it’s very difficult without him,” she said.

Navalnaya – who lives abroad – said while Putin was in charge, she could not go back home. But she said she looked forward to the day she believed would inevitably come, when the Putin era ended and Russia once again opened up.