This is the story of Russian competitor Yulia Navalnaya

(CNN Spanish) — Yulia Navalnaya, a Russian activist and rival’s wife, said in a recorded message, “By killing Alexei (Navalny), Putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul. But I still have It’s half a portion.” Video taken immediately after the news of his death in prison due to natural causes according to the medical report.

“I have no right to give up, I will continue to pursue the issue of Alexei Navalny,” he said.

This was a statement from the 47-year-old economist and activist, who has accompanied Navalny on marches and in prisons, and who is now forced to step into the spotlight.

And this is not just any year: Russia will hold presidential elections in March with almost no competition or guarantees and with a clear outcome: Putin’s victory.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his wife Yulia, opposition politician Lyubov Sobol and other protesters march in memory of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov in central Moscow on February 29, 2020. (Credit: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

But who is Yulia Navalnaya, where does she come from and what chances does she have to face the difficult and dangerous task of leading the Russian opposition to Putin?

According to Reuters agency, Yulia Abrosimova was born on June 24, 1976 in Moscow, the daughter of scientist Boris Abrosimova.

He studied economics at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics and worked for a time in a Moscow bank.

Abrosimova and Navalny met in 1998 while on vacation in Turkey and married two years later, after which she changed her name to Navalnaya in accordance with Russian custom. Both were active in the liberal Yabloko party.

The couple had two children: Dasha, born in 2001, and Zakhar, born in 2008.

Navalnaya began joining her husband in politics in 2013, when Navalny ran in the Moscow mayoral campaign.

From that moment on, Navalny always accompanied Navalny to all his events, protests and campaigns, and it is difficult to find his public appearance without the late opposition leader’s wife. But till now he had never led these events or given a speech

“Now that Navalny is gone, the only person who can potentially continue his legacy is his wife,” Puck’s Washington correspondent Julia Ioffe told CNN. “The fact that he has taken the reins is a remarkable change in his position over the last 15 years.”

In contrast to recent days, in the days following Navalny’s death, Navalny appeared in a video message, gave media interviews and met with world leaders.

Susan Glasser, co-author of “Kremlin Rescind,” told CNN that Navalny “is deeply involved in her husband’s work, she was a very close associate. I think she understands what Alexei Navalny did and more than anyone.” Did even better.”

“Navalny’s widow could unify the opposition in Russia, where her husband, who was deeply controversial with various branches of the democratic movement in Russia, never cooperated with other significant actors,” international analyst Fredo Arias-King told CNN. Didn’t want to do it.”

Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, his daughter Daria, his son Zakhar and his wife Yulia arrive at a polling station during the Moscow City Duma elections on September 8, 2019. (Credit: Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images)

He made the comparison, saying, “But Yulia Corazon Aquino and Violeta Chamorro could do it, when their husbands were killed in the Philippines and Nicaragua, respectively, and they came out of obscurity to challenge the dictator.”

But leading the opposition to Putin’s government is a dangerous job, as shown by the attempt to poison Navalny in 2020 and his imprisonment in 2021 in connection with an earlier fraud charge, which Navalny voluntarily dismissed after returning to Russia. They dismiss it as politically motivated.

From that moment Navalny was in prison until his death, as announced by authorities on February 16, 2024, due to “natural causes”, while he was held in a penal colony in the Siberia region.

Even Navalny was detained in January 2021 during a series of protests in Moscow in support of Navalny.

“If you’re going to be a strong voice in opposition to the Kremlin right now, you should consider yourself a target,” Glasser said.

“If Navalnaya returns to Russia, there is a good chance she will end up like her husband,” Alexey Levinson, a pollster at the Levada Center, told CNN.

With information from Brian Todd and Mario Gonzalez.