Talked to widow

Von der Leyen believes in the targeted killing of Navalny

Ursula von der Leyen(Bild: AFP)

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and CDU leader Friedrich Merz believe that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was deliberately murdered. She had spoken to Navalny's widow at the Munich Security Conference and she had described very impressively that Navalny had taken part in a hearing via video the day before the start of the Security Conference, said von der Leyen on Monday in Berlin at a CDU board meeting.

He was joking and it was clear that he was doing well. Yulia Navalnaya had also pointed out that her husband was only 47 years old and healthy.

For Putin, "really no human life" would count
"Her statements have once again very clearly confirmed that he was deliberately murdered," added von der Leyen. This shows the ruthlessness and perfidy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom "really no human life" counts for anything. With Navalny's death, he had tried to get his message across at the Munich Security Conference. Putin is also trying to destabilize and undermine Western democracies.

Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia Navalnaya(Bild: AFP)

The death of Navalny, who has been imprisoned since 2021, was announced on Friday shortly before the start of the Munich Security Conference, at which top Western politicians discussed, among other things, how Ukraine can be helped to win a victory against the Russian war of aggression.

Merz also believes in Putin's "clear mandate"
CDU leader Merz said: "None of us found it a coincidence that the news arrived in Munich on Friday morning that Alexei Navalny, the most prominent critic and opposition politician in Russia, had died that day. We all firmly believe that this was a clear order from the Russian president. The clear message is that Putin does what he wants and that human lives do not matter to him.

Von der Leyen and Merz spoke at a press conference about von der Leyen's future plans regarding the Navalny case. Von der Leyen announced that she would seek a second term as President of the European Commission.