Yulia Navalnaya in Berlin:
the widow of Putin's most famous rival,
Alexei Navalny.
He died suddenly in a prison camp.
His wife holds the Kremlin's leader responsible.
There could be no negotiations, nothing with Mr. Putin because
he’s a killer.
He’s a gangster.
He’s the person who brought my country to the war.
Yulia Navalnaya intends to continue Navalny's fight,
as do Ivan and Natasha.
They're members of a Russian anti-war movement.
How does it feel to be a Russian national traitor?
In exile, they're campaigning for a free Russia, and against the war
their home country is waging against Ukraine.
But what can a protest like this from afar achieve?
Yulia Navalnaya in Berlin: She wants to fulfill her husband's final wish –
to protest Putin's re-election ...
and encourage Russian opponents of the regime.
Thank you for the hope.
My deepest condolences.
Thank you.
You're the best.
It's so nice that you want to continue your husband's mission.
He was a great hope for us.
It died along with him, but it has come back in you.
We're from Kirov.
We stand by you!
And St. Petersburg.
Following Navalny's death, his wife addressed Russians via YouTube.
All of Putin opponents should go to their polling stations
at noon on March 17th and stand together against Putin.
In Russia, it's the only legal opportunity to gather in public.
Many Russians in exile abroad also followed Yulia Navalnaya's call.
I want Putin to disappear from the lives of Russians.
He is the most terrible thing that has happened to Russia
since the Stalin era.
Yes, it's important to show that we are against war, we are not Putin.
And we are against Putin.
He's a killer. And he's a criminal.
He remains in power but many opponents of the regime
remain in Russia and they feel isolated.
We have to show them that they are not alone.
I know that it makes little sense to protest here -
but that's exactly what Putin wants: for us not to be seen.
Weapons for Ukraine!
Good evening.
My name is Natalia.
I'm from a Russian survey service.
We're conducting a survey.
Would you have time for me?
Only if it's quick.
Go ahead!
Thank you.
A few days earlier.
We meet activists from the global network 'FreeNavalny'.
They've rented co-working spaces to run their anti-Putin campaign from.
They're calling voters in Russia to speak to Putin supporters
about the war in Ukraine, its victims, and the costs.
Natascha has been here from the beginning.
We aren’t supposed to mention her surname.
We try to argue very carefully against the Russian government.
Perhaps they have never been confronted
with a different opinion in their lives.
We want to make people like that think.
It's a difficult task in times of military censorship because
anyone in Russia who criticizes the Russian army for its actions
in Ukraine risks going to prison for several years.
Many calls go unanswered.
But the activists carry on, just as Alexei Navalny once said:
But how effective is such a protest,
especially at a distance?
My impression is that we're sitting around waiting for
someone to finish Putin off.
We talk a lot, but never about how to actually
topple this regime.
It could be a mistake.
Putin is the kind of person who only understands power –
if he understands anything at all.
A view that is shared by more and more opponents of the regime.
But unlike their like-minded peers in Russia, they can turn their anger
into action here, in freedom, without fear of draconian repression.
A group selfie — admittedly in Berlin —
but the message is aimed at Russia.
Navalnaya has over one million followers on Instagram.
Immediately after her husband's death,
she declared she would continue his work.
A month later, her followers in Berlin are
welcoming her like a star.
Could she become the new face of the Russian opposition?
I hope that she stays alive – that what happened to Alexei Navalny
doesn't happen to her.
For me, she's already the face of the Russian opposition.
She'll soon show her potential as a politician.
She could become president.
Of course, she is taking a big risk.
She has already lost her husband, but has the strength to fight on.
If she was in the list, she would be the only one
who would make things better.
Yet not everyone here has come to the Russian embassy to protest or –
if only symbolically – to vote against Putin in the rigged election.
For Putin, of course. For Vladimir Putin.
We're for Putin.
We're for Russia.
For the best president.
No, we're not against Putin.
No.
We want everything for Russia.
And yet Russian supporters of Putin are not in the majority in Berlin.
They have to listen to the protests if they like it or not:
Yulia Navalnaya has been standing in the queue for six hours now,
along with hundreds of others.
Some here are worried whether the opposition politician
will be able to leave the embassy safely after casting her vote.
The danger exists.
Of course it's dangerous.
It's the Russian embassy.
They'll stop at nothing.
The German police can stand for democracy, but inside the embassy
they have no influence.
Finally, she's made it.
A change of scene.
We're back with Natascha, Ivan, and their friends.
They've called their group 'Free Navalny Germany'.
Natascha has been living in Germany for a while.
How does it feel to be a Russian national traitor?
Natasha is nineteen years old.
She's never known a Russian president other than Putin.
Dima and Ivan only recently fled Russia to escape
mobilization and repression.
We want peace for Russia.
We want democracy for Russia.
And we just want people to live in freedom and
not be afraid of being put into jail every day.
Now, I think, we have a responsibility to stop it before
Putin wants to blow up the whole world with his nuclear weapons.
With these stickers they want to draw attention to their work –
and show that they exist.
We would like to be able to put up these stickers in Russia,
and not have to fear for our lives and our freedom.
Ideally there would be no need to post these stickers:
If there was no war, and no Putin,
if Russia had taken a different path a long time ago.
But that can no longer be reversed.
That's why things are the way they are now.
We have to keep on fighting.
A sigh of relief —
after about twenty minutes, Yulia Navalnaya comes out of
the Russian embassy.
You're probably wondering what I wrote on the ballot paper,
who I voted for.
Of course I wrote the name 'Navalny'.
It can't be that during the presidential election campaign,
just one month before the election, Putin's most important opponent –
already imprisoned – is murdered.
Thanks a lot.
She's not yet ready to answer the journalists' many questions –
as if she were still gathering her strength for her new role:
a politician who wants to challenge Putin from exile.
Up until now, she had only wanted to be an advisor to her husband,
the most important member of the opposition.
After his unexplained death, though, she seems to not have another choice.
What's your message for Russian people?
Just be brave.
One day, very soon, we will win.
Her anger at Putin and his secret services is enormous.
Alexei Navalny was once rescued from a Novichok poisoning
in a Berlin clinic – yet he returned and was immediately arrested.
He continued to fight from prison
until he collapsed there - and died.
It could not be any messages to Mr. Putin.
Nothing.
That’s it.
Now she steps into his footsteps.
She is willing to take the risk for the fight, that made her husband
pay the ultimate price — for a free Russia.
And she is not alone.