Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in prison last month, predicted in previously unpublished testimony in 2020 and released on Wednesday, March 6, that his death would change "nothing" and other people would stand in his place.
"If they would kill me it changes nothing," Navalny told Jacques Maire, then a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in December 2020, speaking in English. Maire released the videotaped testimony with the agreement of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
In the testimony, published by French daily newspaper Libération and broadcaster LCI, Navalny said his team knew what to do without him, although he admitted things would be more "difficult."
"There are other people who are ready to stand [in] my place," he said. According to him, there are "millions of people who don't want to live in a country where the whole power is just in one [man's] hands."
"It's not about me," he said. "It's about people who I represent or [am] trying to represent."
On February 16, Russian authorities said Navalny died suddenly in his Arctic prison. His supporters say the 47-year-old was murdered, possibly with the same Novichok nerve agent.
Navalny was interviewed by Maire on December 17, 2020, in Berlin, ahead of his return to Russia following treatment for Novichok poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. Upon returning to Russia, in January 2021, he was arrested at the airport and jailed.
Maire served as rapporteur in the investigation of the Navalny poisoning. Its objective was to "legally qualify the facts" and establish the responsibility of the Russian authorities, said Libération.
Navalny told Maire he did not know if he would be arrested immediately upon his return. "I have no idea – would I be arrested at the airport? Maybe later. Maybe I will come and they wait until everything is settled down and then will arrest me. Or maybe not. I have no idea." He said Russian authorities wanted him to remain abroad and become "another emigrant." He also said the Kremlin had "never" tried to negotiate with him, adding that the Russian authorities considered him to be "radical."
Maire asked Navalny what would happen to his movement if he did not come back. "They know how to operate without me because actually, I spent a lot of time every year in prison so they are accustomed to work without me," Navalny said of his team.
"The organization will sustain and will operate but of course it would be more difficult in terms of morale and motivation," Navalny said. "There [are] some other people who can lead." Navalny's wife Yulia has said she will continue her husband's cause.
Navalny said "at least half of the country want Russia to be a normal European country" and accused President Vladimir Putin of wanting to crush "these type of thoughts and political movements."
Navalny said the Russian authorities used poison against Kremlin critics because "it's terrifying." He added: "C'mon, even here in Europe. Now I talk to people and some European politicians say (...) 'I just don't want to mess with it."
"People are afraid of such mysterious deaths," Navalny said. "I think that's the main goal. And Putin personally enjoys the idea that people are afraid of his dark power."
In his testimony, Navalny drew parallels to the role of Saudi authorities in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. "Everyone knows, actually, who ordered the killing of Khashoggi," he said.
Libération quoted Maire as describing Navalny at the time of the interview as a "hyper-determined" fighter and "a block of granite."