Russian lawyer and opposition leader to Vladimir Putin, Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny, was reported dead on February 16, 2024 while imprisoned. The follow through with the report of his death has shaken Russia, with multiple protests emerging within the country, holding the belief that something or someone has had a hand in the death of Navalny during his imprisonment, which was then followed by a crackdown of these protests, suppressed by the Russian law enforcement. While Navalny has faced threats to his life such as being poisoned in 2020, Navalny continued with his activities as the opposition and as an anti-corruption activist to President Vladimir Putin’s government.

With Alexei Navalny’s passing, his wife, Yulia Borisovna Navalnaya announced during a video that Putin had killed her husband, and vowed to take on the mantle in their struggle against Putin and to continue her late husband’s work as the new opposition leader.