Navalny's Widow Issues Defiant Video

If it wasn't immediately clear who would fill the void in Russia's opposition camp after the death of Alexei Navalny, it is now: His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, released a defiant video Monday in which she pledged, "I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny," reports the Washington Post.

• Navalnaya has long shunned the spotlight, and it was not clear until Monday whether she would continue to do so, per the New York Times. "I know it feels impossible to do any more, but we have to—to come together in one strong fist and strike with it at this maddened regime, at (Vladimir) Putin, at his friends and his bandits in uniform, at these thieves and killers who have crippled our country," she said.

• The BBC calls it "a deliberate and dramatic step into the political spotlight that was occupied for years" by her husband.
• "I should not have been in this position," said Navalnaya in an occasionally trembling voice. "I should not be recording this video. A different person should be in my place." But she signed off with her husband's signature closing line: "I am not afraid. Don't you be afraid."

(More Alexei Navalny stories.)