Fact Check: Supposedly, Russia Posted Alexei Navalny's Death Notice Just 2 Minutes After Official Time of Death. Here's What We Know
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Claim:
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny's death notice was posted just two minutes after his official time of death.
Rating:
On Feb. 16, 2024, the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken and formidable opponent, Alexei Navalny, was announced by the Russian prison service. The former lawyer was 47, and he was serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges of extremism in an isolated penal colony above the Arctic Circle.
The notice, released by the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region and translated from Russian by Reuters, read as follows:
On Feb. 16, 2024, in penal colony number 3, convict Alexei Navalny felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness.
The medical staff of the institution arrived immediately, and an ambulance team was called.
All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict.
The causes of death are being established.
The notice indicated it was last updated on at 2:19 p.m. Feb. 16.
According to the former adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko, this notice was posted only two minutes after his death reportedly occurred. "According to Russian media, Navalny started feeling poorly at around 1 p.m.," Gerashchenko wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "The doctors tried to resuscitate him but Navalny died at 2:17 p.m."
Information about the death of Aleksey Navalny appeared on the website of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District two minutes after the death reportedly occurred. Never do the authorities act so promptly, especially when it comes to… https://t.co/e3XZHMyKd7 pic.twitter.com/9wrKNf5udc
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 16, 2024
Gerashchenko did not cite what specific Russian media made this claim, and as of Feb. 16, we were unable to confirm Navalny's official time of death. Therefore, we rate this claim as "Unproven." If more information surrounding the details of his death is confirmed, this story will be updated accordingly.
Although many world leaders — including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and U.S. President Joe Biden — publicly pointed to Putin as the cause of Navalny's death; according to The Associated Press, his associates had not (as of this writing) received independent confirmation of his death. Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said she did not know whether to believe the report of his death because "we cannot trust Putin and the Putin government. They always lie."
Just one day before the announcement of his death, on Feb. 15, Navalny was seen in a video-link court hearing in which he joked with the judge about sending him money because he was running out of funds due to the judge's decisions.
Sources:
Alexei Navalny Appears Healthy in Video-Link Court Hearing on Day before His Death. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFGlH9WS5yI. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
'Alexey Navalny Timeline: From Poisoning to Prison to Death'. Al Jazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/16/hold-alexei-navalny-timeline-from-poisoning-to-prison. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Bayer, Lili. 'Yulia Navalnaya Takes Stage at Munich Meeting after News of Husband's Death'. The Guardian, 16 Feb. 2024. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/16/yulia-navalnaya-munich-security-conference-navalny-putin.
Faulconbridge, Guy, et al. 'Putin Foe Alexei Navalny Dies in Jail, West Holds Russia Responsible'. Reuters, 16 Feb. 2024. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/jailed-russian-opposition-leader-navalny-dead-prison-service-2024-02-16/.
Guldbæk, Karoline. 'Bekrefter dødsfall'. dagbladet.no, 17 Feb. 2024, https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/bekrefter-dodsfall/80992002.
Henderson, Cameron, et al. 'Putin Is Responsible for Navalny's Death, Says Biden - Follow Latest'. The Telegraph, 16 Feb. 2024. www.telegraph.co.uk, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/16/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news5/.
'Https://Twitter.Com/Gerashchenko_en/Status/1758479753898504421?T=137'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1758479753898504421?t=137. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
'Https://Twitter.Com/ioannZH/Status/1758831082500165791'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/ioannZH/status/1758831082500165791. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.
'Https://Twitter.Com/Kira_Yarmysh/Status/1758801430125695199'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/Kira_Yarmysh/status/1758801430125695199. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.
'Kremlin Foe Alexei Navalny's Team Confirms His Death and Says His Mother Is Searching for His Body'. AP News, 17 Feb. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/russia-alexei-navalny-death-opposition-leader-37da0915157576372d6493be7ad04b5c.
'Navalny's Death: The Full Russian Prison Service Statement'. Reuters, 16 Feb. 2024. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-prison-service-statement-about-navalnys-death-2024-02-16/.
'Western Officials and Kremlin Critics Blame Putin and His Government for Navalny's Death in Prison'. AP News, 16 Feb. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/russia-navalny-death-global-reactions-putin-19e7fd6318763627f6917a92678cd190.
'World Leaders Blame Putin's Government in Russia for Death of Alexei Navalny'. PBS NewsHour, 16 Feb. 2024, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/world-leaders-blame-putins-government-in-russia-for-death-of-alexei-navalny.
УФСИН России По Ямало-Ненецкому Автономному Округу Сообщает. 16 Feb. 2024, https://web.archive.org/web/20240216120742/https://89.fsin.gov.ru/news/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=729444.
Updates:
Feb. 20, 2024: This article was updated to include new information released by Navalny's team in the days following the announcement of his death.
