World leaders blame Putin for Navalny's death as many mourn

World leaders are holding Russia's increasingly authoritarian leader, President Vladimir Putin, responsible for the death of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Navalny died in prison, the state news agency TASS reported on Friday, citing the prison authorities.

The 47-year-old collapsed on Friday after a walk in his penal colony in the northern Russian region of Yamal and immediately lost consciousness, the report said, adding that resuscitation attempts by paramedics were unsuccessful.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had been informed of his death, but did not provide any further details.

Navalny's team initially stated that it had not yet received confirmation of the opposition figure's death.

"I am not commenting at all, at the request of Alexei Navalny's family," his lawyer Leonid Solovyov told independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

The team working for Navalny has not yet received direct confirmation of his death, his spokeswoman said.

Later, staff members said it was "most likely" that Navalny is dead.

"We understand that it most likely happened that Alexei Navalny was killed. With a very high degree of probability," Ivan Zhdanov, the exiled director of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, said during a live broadcast on YouTube on Friday evening.

Zhdanov added: "At the moment, everything indicates that a murder has indeed taken place - the murder of Alexei Navalny in prison. And Putin killed him."

Navalny was serving a total sentence of 19 years on several charges, including one of "extremism." However, abroad he was widely seen as a political prisoner, with human rights organizations repeatedly calling for his release.

In 2020, he narrowly survived an attempt on his life with the nerve agent Novichok, before being flown to Berlin, where he underwent emergency treatment. Navalny returned to Russia on January 17, 2021 and was arrested on arrival at the airport.

In December last year, he disappeared from where he was being held in the European part of Russia, before being located in a penal colony in northern Siberia some weeks later.

Navalny suspected that he was being isolated as far as possible ahead of presidential elections next month.

As a prisoner, he brought repeated legal actions against his conditions of imprisonment, using court appearances to voice trenchant criticism of Putin's authoritarian style and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of the election campaign, Navalny has no longer participated in court proceedings via video link.

In recent weeks, the United States and the European Union, along with the German government, have all expressed concern over his condition and called for information about his whereabouts.

Russia rejected these calls as illegitimate interference in its internal affairs. The Kremlin also said that it could not concern itself with the lot of prisoners in Russia.

US President Joe Biden was among western officials who were critical of Russia on Friday in the wake of Navalny's reported demise.

Biden blamed Putin for Navalny's death.

"Make no mistake," the 81-year-old US leader said before a crowded White House press corps briefing. "Putin is responsible for Navalny's death."

He said, however, that "it is not known exactly what happened."

Biden said he was "shocked but not surprised" at the news.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said "Russia has some very serious questions to answer."

Stoltenberg described Navalny as a "strong voice for freedom" and said NATO has called for his release from imprisonment for a long time.

The top NATO official declined to draw a link to the upcoming Russian presidential election but noted Russia "has become [a] more and more authoritarian power" for many years.

Navalny died for his ideals, European Council President Charles Michel said on X. "Fighters die. But the fight for #freedom never ends," Michel said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that she is "deeply disturbed and saddened by the news of the death of Alexei Navalny."

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the head of the EU executive wrote, "Putin fears nothing more than dissent from his own people."

Von der Leyen said the Russian opposition activist's death is "a grim reminder of what Putin and his regime are all about."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also reacted with dismay.

"But now we know exactly what kind of regime this is," said Scholz in Berlin, where he was meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Scholz recalled how he had met Navalny in Berlin when he was recovering from the poisoning. At the time, he talked to Navalny about the courage it would take to return to Russia, he said.

"And he has probably now paid for this courage with his life," Scholz said.

Scholz said that anyone who voices criticism in Russia and stands up for democracy must fear for their safety and life.

He said Russia was on a "terrible" path under Putin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he assumes that Navalny was killed and that Putin bore responsibility.

"It is obvious to me: He was killed. Like other thousands who were tortured to death because of this one person," Zelensky said, according to an official translation, in Berlin during a meeting with Scholz.

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel called Navalny a "victim of Russia's repressive state power. It is terrible that a courageous, fearless voice that stood up for his country was silenced using terrible methods."

In posts on X, the presidents of Latvia and Lithuania, Edgars Rinkēvičs and Gitanas Nausėda, blamed the Kremlin for the reported death of Navalny.

"Whatever you think about Alexei Navalny as a politician, he has just been brutally murdered by the Kremlin. This is a fact, and you should know this about the true nature of the current Russian regime," Rinkēvičs wrote on X.

"Alexei Navalny did not die in prison, he was killed by the brutality of the Kremlin and its goal of silencing the opposition at all costs," Nausėda wrote, also on X.