Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison

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Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has died in prison, according to Russian authorities. The ardent critic of President Vladimir Putin has been jailed since 2021. In December, he was moved to a notorious arctic penal colony, thousands of miles to the north-east of Moscow in Siberia. A reason has not yet been given for his death, though prison authorities have said he felt unwell after a walk on Friday and then fell unconscious. Navalny, who campaigned against what he described as rampant corruption within Russia, was poisoned in 2020 in what Western laboratories later confirmed to be a nerve agent. In his last public appearance from prison on 10 January, Navalny joked that he that he was yet to receive any Christmas mail, due to being "quite far away". Newshour spoke to Navalny’s friend, writer Boris Akunin, who lives in exile in the UK. He described Navalny as “witty, joking from jail and so full of life” but added he would “haunt Putin until his death”. Flowers placed next to a portrait of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the monument to the victims of political repressions following Navalny's death, in Saint Petersburg, Russia February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer