MUNICH, Germany – Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili raised eyebrows over the timing of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny’s death announcement, suggesting it was a deliberate message aimed at the ongoing Munich Security Conference.
“I believe the announcement, coming just hours before the conference began, wasn’t a coincidence,” Zourabichvili told DPA in an interview on Sunday. “It’s a typical tactic of Russia, using psychological pressure to convey that they can do whatever they want, wherever they want.”
The 71-year-old leader saw the announcement as a direct message to the conference attendees, who are currently discussing pressing global issues.
Navalny’s death, confirmed by his team on Saturday, sent shockwaves through the international community. The 47-year-old Kremlin critic, imprisoned since 2021, reportedly died on Friday afternoon in a remote Russian penal colony. His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, received the news at the prison camp, according to a post by his spokeswoman on X, formerly Twitter.
The Russian prison service’s announcement notably coincided with the start of the Munich Security Conference, a major gathering of world leaders and security experts. This timing, according to Zourabichvili, was no accident.
“It’s a message meant to intimidate and assert dominance,” she asserted, adding that the conference discussions would likely be impacted by this tragic development.