Political leaders in the U.S. and around the world are expressing outrage at the death of Alexei Navalny, the 47-year old top Kremlin critic widely regarded as a Russian political prisoner who died just one day after appearing on camera from an Arctic Circle jail, reportedly "looking well and laughing during a court hearing."
"Navalny was serving a 19-year jail term on charges widely considered politically motivated," the BBC reports. "He was moved to one of Russia's toughest penal colonies late last year."
"Within minutes of Navalny's death being announced by the prison service, the international community hailed the courage of Vladimir Putin's biggest domestic adversary," BBC added.
World leaders and political experts are placing the blame for Navalny's death on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Putin killed Navalny," declared former U.S Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Friday morning, speaking from Munich.
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"I don't know what to say. I'm gonna try to be analytic but I want you to know Alexei Navalny was my friend. I was with his wife last night. I'm here in Munich talking to her. His daughter Dasha goes to school at Stanford," said McFaul, a professor of political science and the Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University.
"So this is a pretty emotional time for me. Putin killed Navalny, let's be crystal clear about that."
"I don't care about any investigation," he continued, saying Putin had Navalny arrested and had him in solitary confinement and "put him in a cell ... and today he is dead. Putin killed Navalny. And why did he? Because Putin is weak. You don't kill people if you're strong. Putin killed because Navalny was the one opposition leader in Russia that Putin feared the most."
"So this is a really tragic day for me and it should be a tragic day for anybody who cares about democracy," McFaul added. "Navalny, in my view, was ... in the category of brave, courageous leaders that – you know, remember, he went back to Russia, he didn't have to go back. He went back for his country because he was a Patriot that believed that his country could be different."
Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking from the Munich Security Conference, called Navalny's death "terrible news," and told attendees "Russia is responsible."
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"My prayers are with his family, including his wife, Yulia, who is with us today. And if confirmed, this would be a further sign of Putin's brutality. Whatever story they tell, let us be clear, Russia is responsible and we will have more to say on this later."
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "It is obvious to me: He was killed — like other thousands who were tortured to death because of this one man," Politico reported, noting that "Zelenskyy's voice was part of a global wave of outrage following the announcement that Navalny had died in a Russian prison colony."
Politico also reported that "Businessman Bill Browder, who was himself targeted by the Putin regime, told POLITICO at the Munich summit: 'This is not a death, this is a murder.'"
“This was a murder that was orchestrated by Vladimir Putin," Browder added. "Putin tried to kill him in 2020. He failed. He succeeded today. Putin cannot tolerate any kind of dissent. He cannot tolerate any kind of opposition. This is a message to everybody else in Russia, that you die if you stand up to him.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, also from Munich, said: "I am deeply saddened and concerned about the reports coming from Russia that Alexei Navalny is dead. All the facts have to be established ... Russia has serious questions to answer."
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