Yulia Navalnaya Declares Readiness To Run In Russian Presidential Election

• 21.10.2024, 10:28

But after Putin leaves office.

The widow of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, has said she will take part in the Russian presidential election when she returns to the country.

‘My goal is to bring closer and make changes in the country possible. If I return to Russia, I will run as a presidential candidate,’ Navalnaya told the BBC. At the same time, she noted that she has no opportunity to return to Russia while Vladimir Putin remains in power. Navalnaya reminded that she was even not able to come to her hometown to attend her husband's funeral because she feared arrest.

In July, Moscow's Basmanny court arrested Navalnaya in absentia on charges of participating in an extremist organisation. A preventive measure in the form of detention for two months was chosen for her. This term will be calculated from the moment of her extradition to Russia or from the moment of her detention in the country.

Also speaking to the BBC, Navalnaya admitted that she is ‘not a magician and doesn't know the secret’ of how to bring about immediate change in Russia. ‘If you can't do something big at once, do something small every day, and the more people do that, the sooner the time for change will come,’ she said.