Former advisor to Russian opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, speaks out about death of mentor
BOSTON - The loss of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is felt worlwide including here in Massachusetts.
The death of the anti-corruption champion was confirmed on Saturday by his spokesperson. He died in an artic prison.
"This idea of the beautiful Russia of the future that he believed in has vanished," said Yury Terekhov who is currently a visiting professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts.
Terekhov and Navalny worked together in 2013 on Navalny's mayoral campaign in Moscow.
Now Terekhov is mourning the man he considered a mentor. He told WBZ-TV that Navalny never should have returned to Russia.
"I honestly think his return to Russia was a miscalculation. Yesterday was a really sad day for all of us who worked for him, followed him, or believed in his movement. Yea it's like a death of a relative and even though you expected it, you still feel sorrow," says Terekhov.
Terekhov is blacklisted by the FSB and not allowed back in Russia for fear of imprisonment.
He is now questioning how Navalny died.
There have been several assassination attempts on the Russian opposition leader, but most recently he was poisoned with a military nerve agent in 2020.
"I don't think there is space for believing anything. It's a political assassination that's for sure. We may speculate over what was the method, was it poisoning, starving him to death," says Terekhov.
Terekhov and Navalny last spoke in 2017 at the start of Navalny's Presidential campaign to unseat Vladimir Putin.
"I remember he was really positive, really self assured at this point. He was a great inspiration for all of us in the Russian democratic movement," Terekhov told WBZ.
A movement Terekhov also dedicated his life to.
"The main thing he feared is the strength of his character, his strong stance. His bid for leadership because no other opposition politician had such a demeanor, He was a big hope for Russia," says Terekhov.
Navalny supporters gathered outside of the Massachusetts statehouse on Saturday to honor the political leader and his message of democracy and peace.
It is a message that is also shown in the Oscar winning documentary "Navalny" produced in part by Boston based filmmakers.
But Terekhov had one last thing to say about what the death of the opposition leader means.
"I think it means Putin and his regime is no longer going to negotiate. That the war will continue the only way to stop him is to dismantle his regime it's the only way to secure peace. We should not give up," says Terekhov.
