‘We hold Vladimir Putin responsible for this death’: PM on Alexei Navalny

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has addressed the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny at a media conference a short time ago. Vladimir Putin’s most significant political opponent, Alexei Navalny, has died in prison, aged 47. “This is, of course, a tragedy and Australia is shocked and saddened by the news of Alexei Navalny’s death, and we hold Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime responsible for this death in prison,” Mr Albanese said at a press conference on Saturday. “Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian, and we have a divide in the world between authoritarian regimes and democracies. “Just to our north, we’ve seen the greatest democratic exercise on a single day in human history with the election of a new president of Indonesia … and it stands in stark contrast. “We cannot take democracy for granted … and we need to call out the behaviour of authoritarians like Vladimir Putin.”