Putin murdered Navalny, ambassador says | Power & Politics

we begin today on the death of Alexi naali early this morning the Russian prison where he was being detained released a statement saying naali felt unwell after a walk lost Consciousness and died shortly after the statement said attempts to save his life failed navali was 47 years old Alexi Nali had long been one of the most vocal critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin and was once considered the only person with a Chance of challenging Putin in an election naali first made a name for himself through a Blog that took aim at corruption in Russia's government in December 2011 he led large protests in Moscow against Vladimir Putin and for the rest of his life naali was in and out of Russia's most notorious jails a target of multiple poisoning attempts and had his organizations labeled extremist in the months leading up to his death navali was moved to a Maximum Security Prison in Russia's Arctic Canada's ambassador to the United Nations reacted strongly to reports of naval's death saying Putin murdered naali just as surely as if he'd strangled him with his bare hands Bob Ray is Canada's ambassador to the United Nations and he joins me now Ambassador Ray welcome back to the show thank you David that was a strong reaction uh you had to this news um how do you think Canada and other countries should respond to what's happened here well I don't know how else when can respond to something like this it's a it's a it's a genuine atrocity uh nalni was poisoned uh left the country barely survived because uh in in the German Hospital uh and then having recovered decided that he would go back um no knowing what risk he was taking in he of course he was arrested as soon as he got off the plane so his conditions in in prison have been impossible his sentences kept getting lengthened uh he was in solitary confinement uh he was in one of these places where they keep the lights on all day and all night uh he couldn't eat properly he had lots of health issues and and he died as a result and uh all of that happened because that's what President Putin wanted to happen and so I think any sensible person would say Putin is responsible for that just as he was responsible for the death of Boris nsof just as he was responsible possible for the death of a great many people who've been bumped off thrown out of Windows mysteriously died in their hotel rooms poisoned in London Parks I mean it's unbelievable what this guy has has done and what his regime continues to do plus he's killed probably about 250,000 of his own soldiers let alone the tens of thousands who've been killed in uh in Ukraine innocent civilians so this is this is not a good government in in Russia at the moment uh he's leading a vicious Empire that's carrying out a neocolonial attack on Ukraine and is disrupting life in many many other countries in Africa and Asia and elsewhere so he deserves strong words that's what he should get and even more than that actually NATO Secretary General Yen stoltenberg said today that Russia needs to answer qu answer all the serious questions about nal's death what what facts do you think need be established around this and do you think the world will ever get those answers from Russia no we'll never get those answers any more than Stalin told us what he did to R Wallenberg or the thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of other people or the mill millions of people who died in the gulag we'll never get answers from from Russia Russia is the successor of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Empire killed millions of people and Russia is killing millions of people there's there's no way you can so sit back and say please give us your answers he's given us his answer his answer is he he kills people who get gets in the in his way that's what he does and that's what we're dealing with we're dealing with a dictator who who is responsible for the deaths of millions of people this this happens on a day when a lot of world leaders are gathered in Munich uh for the security conference that happens there um there's been some speculation that that timing is not coincidental uh what what message do you think naval's death sends uh to the world and says about Russia's current place in the world well I don't think Russia cares I don't think Russia cares very much what we think um and I don't think they care very much about what other people say I think what Russia cares about is what we do and I think the worrisome moment we're in right now is do we take this dictator seriously enough and are we prepared to do enough to stop him um it's not enough for us to say gee it's too bad we're waiting for answers from Mr Putin you'll never get answers from Putin what we have to do is stop him in his tracks and that's really what this next few weeks are all about whether NATO and the United States and Canada and other countries can do more than we're currently doing to stop what Putin is doing that's what we have to that's what we have to do and those are the questions that we have to answer the answers to that question though uh Mr Ray don't seem very clear at least from the United States perspective at this point you know President Biden is struggling to get that Aid package through Congress it's being held up by by House Republicans seemingly at the behest of of former president Trump I mean do do you think the West will respond in the way that I would suspect you hope it will if America can't get this through well I hope I made myself very clear I hope it's not just you hope that I do I I firmly believe David I firmly believe that a victory for Putin of any kind would be a disaster for the West for our values and for our security uh and I've been saying this publicly and privately ever since the invasion of Ukraine and I think we need to understand what we're dealing with I think we need to understand this level of seriousness with which Russia takes the struggle and if we don't match him with our own seriousness our own capabilities then we're in deep trouble um and the American Congress has its responsibility so does the government of Canada so does so does all of Europe so does NATO itself we all have to respond and we have to respond more effectively in order to stop Putin from what he's doing the Russian Embassy uh here in Ottawa the the embassy to Canada reacted earlier today saying the death of a Russian citizen is strictly Russia's m matter thus we urge Canada to stop interfering in our Internal Affairs do you have any response to that well best of luck to them for that the death of Nali is a world event and they can they can say whatever they want we will continue to say this we will continue to speak out and Canada needs not only to speak out in defense of freedom but we also need to act in defense of Freedom so no Mr naval's death is not an internal Russian matter the collapse of Russian democracy is a tragedy for Russia it's also a tragedy for the world and the replacement of democracy by a very aggressive Russian Empire um is potentially catastrophic for all of Russia's neighbors um and indeed for the security of the world so we have every reason to speak out but more importantly we have every reason to act and that's what we have to keep on doing it's unclear who will speak out inside Russia with with with Mr nal's death um there there doesn't appear to be another opposition leader to to fill that void they're either dead in jail uh afraid uh what do you think the the consequences of this moment are inside Russia and what do you think Mr nal's Legacy will be um to in to the I think there are more I I David I really think there are more Russian Democrats than any of us will ever know there are more heroic people who are yes many of them are in prison and in Jail uh but many of them are working as quietly and effectively as they can they have a conscience they have beliefs they have been fighting for liberty for a very very long time in their country for indeed for decades and centuries so there's many more of those people than we know and we have to do everything we can to help them but don't give up because don't forget people said that there were no denters in the Soviet Union and that there were no denters in Eastern Europe and they were wrong and Eastern Europe is now much Freer than it has ever been as a result of the courage of people who believed in the fight for freedom and democracy and that's what we have to remember there are people in Russia who believe in freedom and democracy and we have to do everything we can to support them Bob Ray Canada's ambassador to the United Nations thanks for joining us today good to be with you David thank you

Channel: CBC News

Views: 37,936

Keywords: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Canada, World, Empire, Power & Politics, CBC News

Id: uYkIyTUDSSs

Length: 9min 25sec (565 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 17 2024