Alexei Navalny’s widow: X temporarily blocked her account

The account of Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in Russian custody, on the social network X (formerly Twitter) was surprisingly blocked for some time on Tuesday. When I clicked on her profile in the afternoon, a message appeared saying that the account violated X’s rules.

The Fund to Fight Corruption (FBK), founded by Navalny, then also posted an appeal to the owner Elon Musk on X: “Please explain exactly which rules were broken by @yulia_navalnaya.” About three quarters of an hour later, the account was released again.

Navalnaya blames Putin for the death of Alexei Navalny

Julia Navalnaya only registered with X on Monday. On the same day, she publicly accused Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin of being behind her husband’s death. Among other things, she announced that she wanted to continue Navalny’s fight against the power apparatus in Russia. Within one day, the number of readers at X rose to 90,000. As a result, access to Navalnaya’s entry was initially restricted. Readers could only reach him with a direct link. Then later the entire profile was blocked for about an hour. According to media reports, even after the closure was lifted, access remained limited.

Navalny died on Friday in the penal camp with the unofficial name “Arctic Wolf” in the Siberian Arctic region of Yamal. The politician, who was weakened by a poison attack in 2020 and repeated solitary confinement in the camp, is said to have collapsed during a tour of the icy prison yard and died despite attempts to resuscitate him. Navalny was 47 years old at the time of death. To this day, the authorities have denied his relatives access to his body, despite international protests. Navalny’s team, which accuses the Russian power apparatus of murder, sees this as an attempted cover-up.

Note: This article has been updated with new information.