Daria Navalnaya is the daughter of poisoned and jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Her father is widely recognized as the greatest political threat to the Putin regime.
Navalny’s leading opposition to the Russian government led him to being poisoned with a nerve agent by the Kremlin in August 2020. Navalny was evacuated to a German hospital for life-saving treatment, where he barely survived. Despite knowing that he would be arrested if he returned to Russia, Navalny re-entered Russia anyway in January 2021. Navalny was arrested at Moscow Airport, convicted on trumped-up charges, and sentenced to two and a half years in a Russian penal colony.
While in prison, Navalny’s health has deteriorated due to lingering effects from being poisoned. Despite this, Navalny has been denied access to appropriate medical care. In protest, Navalny began a hunger strike on March 31, 2021 that lasted for over three weeks. As his health crisis intensified and he developed a high risk of heart attack and kidney failure, Navalny was finally transferred to a medical facility on April 23. He was sentenced to a further 9 years in prison in March 2022.
Daria Navalnaya has used her platform to fight for a more fair and free Russia, and to raise awareness of her father’s ongoing plight and persecution. Navalnaya’s activism has made her a social media influencer, and her views have been published in various publications including The New York Times.
She accepted the Geneva Summit’s Moral Courage Award on her father’s behalf in 2021.
