OTTAWA, Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the death of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny a “tragedy” and said it exposed Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a monster.”
“It is a tragedy,” Trudeau told public broadcaster CBC on Friday.
“It really shows the extent to which Putin… will crack down on anyone who is fighting for freedom for the Russian people. And it’s something that has the entire world being reminded of exactly what a monster Putin is,” he added.
Russian authorities have previously said Navalny, 47, died suddenly in his Arctic prison.
The shock announcement came as Putin prepares to extend his two-year reign in power in a controlled presidential election in March.
Navalny, a charismatic lawyer, was widely regarded as Russia’s top opposition leader and the only politician able to rally huge crowds to stand up to Putin, 71.
Speaking to a group of Canadian businessmen, Trudeau praised Navalny’s “extraordinary courage” in standing up “for basic freedoms, for democracy.”
He called on Canadians to “double down and triple down” on their commitment to upholding those values and pushing back against Putin, “especially when it comes to Ukraine,” but also “in a world that’s more challenging and more destabilized than we’ve seen in a very, very long time.”
