The news of the death in prison of the Russian Alexei Navalny focused this Friday, February 16, on the first day of the Munich Security Conference, where the wife of the deceased opposition leader, Yulia Navalnaya, appeared by surprise and assured that Vladimir Putin will pay for it. What was described by world leaders as the “Russian threat” was also the focus of discussions as the third year of the war in Ukraine began. This conflict, along with the Middle East, has been defined as one of the main European concerns.
The news of the death in prison of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny marked this Friday, February 16, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, in which his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, took the podium and promised that the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin will pay for it.
“I don't know if we should believe the terrible news we receive, which we receive only from official media. For many years (…) we cannot believe either Putin or his government. They lie constantly. But if this is true, I would like them to “Let Putin and everyone around him – his Government, his friends – know that they will be punished for what they have done to our country, my family and my husband,” she said.
Navalnaya said that those responsible for her husband's death will be brought to justice, and she also asked the international community to fight against the “evil of the regime” of Putin.
In a day in which, among others, the presidents of Colombia and Guatemala, Gustavo Petro and Bernardo Arévalo, the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, and the secretary general of the UN, António Guterres, participated, the appearance by Navalnaya's surprise was received by applause and displays of support.
Kamala Harris intervened at the conference and said that Navalny's death is another example of “Putin's brutality.” Meanwhile, the representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, held a meeting with Navalnaya, in which he expressed his solidarity in “this horrible moment.”
“Even though she was not allowed to visit her husband. For years, after politically motivated rulings and her unjustified detention, Yulia's spirit is unbreakable,” Borrel added in X.
Met Yulia Navalnya to express EU solidarity in this horrible moment.
Despite not having been allowed to visit @navalny For years after politically motivated rulings & his unjustified detention, Yulia's spirit is unbreakable. Putin is responsible for murder & will be accountable.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) February 16, 2024
Russia as a threat to the international order
In the middle of a conference that was not attended by official representatives from Moscow for the third time in a row, Navalny's death reinforced a role that Russia already had due to the war in Ukraine.
Borrell said in a meeting with journalists before the news of Navalny's death that the EU has defined Ukraine as one of the main European concerns along with the Middle East.
The Russian threat has forced Europeans to increase their defense efforts and say goodbye to what became known as “the dividends of peace” after the end of the Cold War.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, in his opening speech, advocated for a just peace “for Ukraine and for the world,” and said that a war like the Russian one, in clear violation of the United Nations Charter, ” “has no place in 21st century Europe.”
“Two years later, the cost in human lives and suffering is atrocious and the impact on the global economy has been particularly devastating for developing countries,” said the UN chief.
Guterres called for peace “in line with the UN Charter and international law, which establishes the obligation to respect the territorial integrity of sovereign States.”
The war in Gaza was also a topic of discussion
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said this Friday at the same meeting that the Gaza war is not only Israel's war, but the war of the entire free world against fundamentalist Islam, behind which he sees the Iranian regime.
“It is not my war or Israel's war. It is the free world's war against fundamentalist Islam,” Katz said at an event in which family members of the hostages held by the Hamas group were among the audience.
On the other hand, Katz stressed that everything possible must be done to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons, because, if it did, it would not only be a threat to Israel, but would allow the Tehran regime to seek more influence elsewhere. of the world.
“If Iran had atomic weapons, it would feel it had enough power to finance other terrorist gangs and create other Gaza strips in Berlin, Munich, Paris, London or even Moscow, although now Russia is its ally,” he said.
Katz began his speech by remembering that he is the son of Holocaust survivors and that for many years he had avoided coming to Germany because of what had happened there.
Ukraine, at the conference
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was received in Berlin by the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, with whom he discussed “the situation on the front and Ukraine's current defense needs.”
In a message published on social networks after the meeting, the Ukrainian president highlighted that the cooperation agreement signed hours before with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, – by which Berlin commits to supporting Ukraine militarily in the long term – is “a “significant step to strengthen” Ukrainian defense capabilities.
“I am grateful to Germany and its people for their significant support for Ukraine,” Zelensky stressed.
During the Ukrainian president's visit to Berlin, Chancellor Scholz also announced that he will send Ukraine a new military aid package worth 1.1 billion euros. Among other types of material, this aid item will include 120,000 artillery ammunition.
After visits to Berlin and Paris, where this Friday he signed another bilateral security agreement, Zelensky plans to address Munich Security Conferencewhere he is expected to give a speech on Saturday, according to his office.
With EFE
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