On Wednesday 15 December, the daughter of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Daria Navalnaya, denounced the pragmatism of European leaders as she received the 2021 Sakharov Prize on behalf of her imprisoned father.
“Dealing with tyrants and dictators doesn’t work”, she told MEPs in Strasbourg, later citing Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. “The desire to flatter the dictator, not to make him angry, to be able to talk to him for as long as possible, is not pragmatism, but cynicism, hypocrisy and corruption”, she said, denouncing the European half-measures.
According to the young woman, “no amount of pragmatic trade will compensate for the losses of starting a new war” between Russia and Ukraine. She reiterated that the Kremlin “shoots those who defend human rights in the back”, including on EU territory.
Navalnaya explained that her father had asked her to tell MEPs that Russia should not be equated with Putin’s regime. “It is part of Europe, and we strive to be part of it. But we also want Europe to fight for what it is and for the great ideas at its heart. We are fighting for a Europe of ideas, for the celebration of human rights, democracy and integrity”, the young woman stressed. “The EU will be able to build a future to which my country will one day belong”, she added.
For Ms Navalnaya, beyond recognising the merits of her father’s work, the Sakharov Prize 2021 is a message to the “tens of millions” of Russian citizens who continue to fight for a better future for their country. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)