Former President Donald Trump briefly addressed the death of Alexei Navalny, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a new social media post.
Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence for extremism charges and died on Feb. 16 at a penal colony in the Arctic Circle. He was 47 years old. The anti-Kremlin leader had been publicly mourned by a number of world leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who said it was “obvious” that Russia’s president was involved in Navalny’s death.
“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” wrote Trump on Truth Social. “It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA.”
“WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION! MAGA2024,” he concluded.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican primary’s presidential nomination. His lone competitor, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, tried to cast Trump’s initial silence on Navalny’s death as a sign of his brutality during an interview over the weekend. Like Biden and Zelensky, Haley has suggested Putin was involved in the death of his critic.
“Either he sides with Putin and thinks it’s cool that Putin killed one of his political opponents or he just doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal,” she claimed, per POLITICO. “Either one of those is concerning. Either one of those is a problem.”
“We need to remind the American people that Vladimir Putin is not our friend,” Haley also said. “Vladimir Putin is not cool. This is not someone we want to associate with. This is not someone that we want to be friends with. This is not someone that we can trust.”
Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has also blamed Putin for her husband’s death. She has vowed to continue Navalny’s efforts in a video released on Feb. 19.
“I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” Navalnaya said, per The Guardian.
“I call on you to stand with me,” she requested of her supporters. “To share not only grief and endless pain … I ask you to share with me the rage. The fury, anger, hatred for those who dare to kill our future.”
Trump has been criticized by a number of major American media outlets in the wake of Navalny’s death.
The New York Post reported that the 45th president had failed to “condemn Putin” in a report on Feb. 19. The Washington Post reported Trump had never condemned the 2020 nerve poisoning of Navalny, who was joined by the U.S. State Department and European authorities in blaming the attack on the Kremlin. CNN released a report titled “Navalny’s death puts a new spotlight on key dividing line between Trump and Biden,” arguing that “disparity in how the two men reacted to the news underscored the divide.”
