Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, urged European politicians to “investigate” the Western assets of President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle on Wednesday.
“You cannot hurt Putin with another resolution or another set of sanctions,” Navalnaya told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“The most important thing is people who are close to Putin: his friends, associates and keepers of mafia money. You and all of us must fight [against] the criminal gang,” Navalnaya said.
Navalnaya added that the West should aim for “investigations into the financial mechanism, not statements of concern but a search for mafia associates in your countries.”
“Everything has already been used: weapons, money, sanctions. And nothing is working. And the worst has happened — everyone got used to the war,” she said.
“Putin is the leader of an organized criminal gang,” said Navalnaya, who has blamed Putin for the death of her husband in an Arctic prison on Feb. 16.
“The public murder has again shown everyone that Putin is capable of anything and that you cannot negotiate with him,” she said.
Navalnaya also said she feared disruption and arrests at her husband’s public funeral, which is set to take place Friday in Moscow.
“I’m not sure yet whether it will be peaceful or whether the police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband,” she said.
Navalny’s allies announced that the funeral service would take place at a Russian Orthodox church in Moscow’s Maryino district, where Navalny lived with his family before his poisoning and imprisonment.
The late activist’s team accused the authorities of trying to prevent a public funeral from taking place as it could turn into a show of support for Navalny, Putin’s most tenacious foe.
Navalnaya announced she would carry on her late husband’s political work shortly after his death was confirmed.