Russia's Alexei Navalny penned secret memoir before his death, says widow
Russian
opposition politician Alexei Navalny wrote an autobiography before he died
which will be published later this year, his widow Yulia Navalnaya said on
Thursday, revealing the existence of a text only his inner circle had known
existed.
Navalny,
who died aged 47 in an Arctic prison in February, had wanted to become
president of Russia and was Vladimir Putin's fiercest domestic critic.
His
allies, branded extremists by the authorities, have accused Putin of having him
murdered. The Kremlin has denied any state involvement in his death.
Navalnaya,
his widow, said in a post on X from outside Russia that her late husband had
started to write the memoir - titled "Patriot" - in 2020 after he had
been poisoned by what Western doctors said was a nerve agent and had been
evacuated to Germany for medical treatment.
She
said the book would be released simultaneously in at least 11 different
languages on Oct. 22 and appear in Navalny's native Russian.
"This
is not at all how I imagined Alexei would write his biography. I thought that
we would be in our 80s, and that he would be sitting at his computer by the
open window and be typing away," Navalnaya said.
"But
things turned out the way they did. Horribly and very, very unfairly.
Nevertheless, Alexei started writing a book at that time (in 2020) and was
unexpectedly quickly drawn into the process.
He
liked to recall the events of his life in connection with events in the
country. For example, he enjoyed describing his childhood," Navalnaya
said.
'NOW
THE SECRETS ARE OVER'
Kira
Yarmysh, Navalny's spokesperson, described how Navalny had begun to dictate
parts of the book to her while he was convalescing in Germany two months after
his poisoning and that he had finished the book when in prison after returning
to Russia in 2021.
"Alexei
had a rare talent of being instantly able to pronounce written text. My job was
to keep up with him and occasionally interject: "you just used that same
word recently!" Yarmysh wrote on the Telegram messenger service.
"I
heard people talking about his posts from prison: 'Alexei writes so well, I
wish he'd write a book!' And I wanted to clap my hands and shout, 'He is
writing one! He is writing one!' But we agreed to keep everything a secret. Now
the secrets are over," she said.
Penguin
Books UK in a statement on X described the book as the "full story of
Navalny’s life and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed
his life".
The
autobiography is being published in the United States by Knopf.
The
book is unlikely to be readily available in Navalny's native Russia, where the
authorities outlawed his movement as extremist and cast his supporters as
U.S.-backed troublemakers out to foment revolution.
Putin
last month called Navalny's death "sad" and said he had agreed to
hand the jailed politician over to the West in a prisoner exchange provided he
never return to Russia.
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