‘Russia has my blood’

Alexei Navalny—a fierce foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin— died in jail on February 19, 2024. In light of his untimely death, The Daily Star is publishing Navalny's interview with Tikhon Dzyadko, editor-in-chief of Dozhd TV, in October 2020, two months after the late opposition leader was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

The European Union recently voted to sanction six Russian citizens and one entity in connection with your poisoning in August. Those affected are representatives of the presidential administration, the special services, and the institutions where it is believed that Novichok was created. Do you think these sanctions are sufficient?

I am primarily interested in what happens in Russia; Europe's reaction is of secondary concern here. I understand that the indignation in many countries is not entirely connected to me. They are more concerned with the use of a chemical weapon. What I want is an investigation conducted on Russian territory—or at least the semblance of an investigation. Because what is happening now seems to be another signal that no one can count on any justice in our country.

As for sanctions or blacklists, my position has always been that if developed countries want to help Russia and its citizens and themselves, they should put a roadblock in the path of dirty money leaving Russia.

The killers and those who gave them the order must be criminally prosecuted. But what is really needed is to kick all the oligarchs out of Europe—the Usmanovs, the Abramovichs, the Shuvalovs, the Peskovs, and all these propagandists who enrich themselves and send money to Europe while Russians are kept in poverty and degradation. These are the people who must be fought. I do not know what measures European countries will take in response to my poisoning, but I would like them to focus on punishing not just the flunkies who execute orders, but the high-profile villains who hide their stolen money in Berlin, London, and Paris.

But surely some European officials have consulted you about who should be punished. Have you helped compile any lists of persons who will be sanctioned?

No, I do not need to make another list. You can consult any of our Anti-Corruption Foundation investigations, most of which are concerned with just that: how some people, claiming to be patriots, plunder enormous sums and buy themselves luxury real estate in Manhattan or Mayfair. My list is in my YouTube blog. Anyone can tune in there, take the names, and add them to any anti-corruption list.

In fact, I am not communicating with any officials here in Berlin or elsewhere in Europe. The only people I talk to are doctors. I don't think that Europe and its officials need my help. Again, they are imposing sanctions not because of me, but because the use of chemical weapons is a violation of international laws and conventions. That is why the formal investigation and statements about the use of Novichok in my case were made not by European countries, but by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which Russia helped create.

Whether it is Navalny or whoever, the punishment for using such a weapon should be the same.

When you were in the hospital, there were media reports that Russian consular officers requested access to you. Did you eventually meet with them?

This was a funny situation. As far as I understand it, they requested access to me when, probably, I was still in a coma, or had just started to come out of a coma. It was such a bizarre discussion. They may as well have been trying to talk to a stone in the forest! The consulate had said, "We demand access to Navalny!" The international provisions on consular access require that consular assistance be provided to people who need it. I do not need it; I need just one thing: for Russia to have a proper investigation into this attempt to murder me. There is every reason to assume that the Novichok was applied to my clothes, which remained behind in the hospital in Omsk. I would like to be given my own medical records, too. And I would very much like to see the video recordings seized by interior ministry officers from the hotel in Tomsk, where the poisoning likely happened. We don't know where these recordings are. If there is no criminal case, where are the videos? I want to see who entered my hotel room.

What the Russian foreign ministry is currently doing is just a distraction. For some reason, they are demanding evidence from Germany. Why? Russia has my clothes, which should be examined. Russia has my blood, which should be tested. The hospital in Omsk is where my medical records and everything needed for a proper investigation can be found. But, for some reason, we do not see it. Instead, we see some kind of skirmish between Russia and Germany.

Do you think there will be some form of investigation?

I assumed they would at least pretend to have an investigation. But, so far, there is not even a sham investigation. That, for me, is further confirmation that Russian President Vladimir Putin issued the order. Otherwise, we would have seen something similar to the investigation into the murder of Boris Nemtsov. According to the French press, Putin, in conversations with leaders of other countries, denied the use of chemical weapons, then claimed that I poisoned myself.

You have one of the best investigative structures in Russia. If there is no official investigation in the Russian Federation, will the Anti-Corruption Foundation carry out some kind of inquiry of its own?

To be honest, our possibilities are limited now that the security videos from the hotel are gone. We can't take them back from the FSB (Federal Security Service) by storm. Everything has been confiscated. The case should have been very easy to solve. The video footage would make everything very clear. But we cannot obtain that evidence. From what I understand, there was a strangely detailed account of my movements before I left Tomsk, apparently prepared by a section of the FSB that was responsible for monitoring me. I was being watched constantly and consistently. The entire hotel was covered with video cameras. This is the most important piece of evidence, but all of it has been seized.

We are of course trying to figure out what happened, but we are not naive. There will be no sensational discovery. We won't be able to publish photographs of the people who committed this crime any time soon. That's how power operates. We're talking about representatives of the special services. That whole machine is now engaged in hiding and destroying the evidence.

Will you now change your strategy and that of the Anti-Corruption Foundation? Obviously, the stakes have increased. Until August 20, the day you were poisoned, you were conducting ongoing investigations, pursuing a strategy of "smart voting" (encouraging people always to vote for whichever candidate opposes the ruling party, United Russia), and holding rallies. Now that the situation has changed, how will you change your activities?

The stakes have risen in the sense that we are seeing the regime decay. We understood before that we were dealing with scoundrels who are obsessed with power and money, and who apparently will stop at nothing. But we now understand that the toolbox includes political assassinations and intimidation through extraordinarily dangerous methods. Chemical weapons are chemical weapons, after all. The only remaining question is just how widely they are willing to apply such methods.

The stakes are indeed higher in that sense. But, as before, the basic strategy remains the same. We must appeal to the people. We must demand the right to participate freely in elections as candidates. We will continue to organise rallies. What happened is very relevant, of course, not least for me personally. But, in general, I do not think that our approach or activities will change dramatically.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020
www.project-syndicate.org

Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.