Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison

Russian opposition leader 'felt unwell' and 'lost consciousness' after a walk, according to prison service

Portrait of Alexei Navalny during an interview
Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely considered politically motivated
(Image credit: Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty Images)

Russian politician and activist Alexei Navalny has died in an Arctic Circle jail, the country's prison service announced today.

 The 47-year-old was widely viewed as Vladimir Putin's "most vociferous critic", said the BBC, and was serving a 19-year sentence on charges "widely considered politically motivated". Navalny was moved to an Arctic penal colony last year and had spent long periods in solitary confinement. 

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.