‘We Are Fighting for a Better Future.' Yulia Navalnaya Discusses Her Human Rights Advocacy
Since Alexei Navalny, the prominent Russian opposition leader and critic of the country's President Vladimir Putin, died in prison in February 2024, his widow Yulia Navalnaya has become a renowned advocate for human rights around the world.
At the TIME100 Summit in New York City on April 23, she discussed the dangers that she faces doing her work as chair of the Advisory Board of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and chair of The Human Rights Foundation.
Speaking with TIME Senior Correspondent Simon Shuster, Navalnaya shared what it's like running an organization in exile in Lithuania, emphasizing her drive to protect opponents of Putin like her husband.
'It's not possible for me to go back to Russia anymore,' she said. '[But] we know that we are fighting for a better future for our country. We are fighting against this regime, which kills their political opponents, which starts wars, which keeps a lot of people in fear.'
Navalnaya also talked about the relationship between Russia and the U.S. She said she's alarmed by the way that Trump appears to be treating Putin as an 'equal,' because Trump 'was elected in democratic elections, and Putin was not.' She called on the Trump Administration to show that 'it is much stronger than Vladimir Putin and that they are not equal presidents.'
Reflecting on continuing her late husband's legacy, she discussed the risks of publishing his book. Navalny's memoir Patriot, partly written from prison, was published posthumously in Oct. 2024. 'It was a problem to bring it to Russia, and we were not sure if people would be imprisoned if we started to send this book to Russia.' A free e-book was made available to every reader inside Russia.
While Navalny was a famous Putin opponent, Navalnaya said she wanted to take time to recognize the many less well-known individuals unfairly imprisoned. 'Russia is a huge country, and there are a lot of unknown names imprisoned for political reasons.' The repression of opponents, she said, 'will continue to increase.'
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The TIME100 Summit convenes leaders from the global TIME100 community to spotlight solutions and encourage action toward a better world. This year's summit features a variety of speakers across a diverse range of sectors, including business, health and science, AI, culture, and more.
Speakers for the 2025 TIME100 Summit include human rights advocate Yulia Navalnaya; Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; comedian Nikki Glaser; climate justice activist Catherine Colman Flowers; Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, and many more, plus a performance by Nicole Scherzinger.
The 2025 TIME100 Summit was presented by Booking.com, Circle, Diriyah Company, Prudential Financial, Toyota, Amazon, Absolut, Pfizer, and XPRIZE.
Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.
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