News / Marvin Rees
Rees pays tribute to his ‘truly brave’ friend Alexei Navalny
Marvin Rees said he hopes the legacy of his friend Alexei Navalny will live on through inspiring fellow other activists in Russia and that there will be “accountability” for Vladimir Putin.
Rees added the Russian opposition leader was “always sincere and committed” and “truly brave” for his devotion to exposing corruption in high places in Russia and “never backing down”.
The mayor of Bristol became friends with Navalny in 2009 during a fellowship programme at Yale University, a scheme reserved for non-American “rising global leaders”.
is needed now More than ever
Navalny, 47, died while being held in a jail about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle, where he had been sentenced to 19 years under a “special regime”.
On College Green, flowers have been laid out by Navalny supporters, with a sign reading describing the tribute as “a vigil for the memory of Russia, free of Putin’s terror”.
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In a statement on X, Rees wrote: “I knew #AlexeiNavalny from our time at @WorldFellows, he was always sincere and committed.
“Alexei spent his political life exposing fraud in Russia, he was a truly brave man who knew what he was facing but never backed down from his cause or from working for the Russian people.”
Speaking to ITV News, Rees joined the growing list of leaders holding Putin responsible for the death of the outspoken Kremlin critic.
“Oppressive regimes require the suppression of truth and Alexei was about putting the truth and corruption of Russia out there,” he said.
“I hope his contribution of that truth will contribute to other political activists in Russia and hopefully there will be accountability for Putin for what’s happened to Alexei.”
Rees continued: “His legacy is that he is a person that identified wrongs in his country being led by the president and said I’m not going to stand for this and put it in the public domain so it doesn’t happen in secret, that will always be there.”
The Yale World Fellows Program class of 2010 including Marvin Rees and Alexei Navalny – photo: Yale World Fellows Program
Rees appeared on Channel 4 soon after the documentary The Man Putin Couldn’t Kill was aired in September 2021 to speak about his relationship with Navalny and refute allegations made in the programme that Navalny was recruited by the CIA or was himself corrupt.
“I know him as a person I made friends with,” said Rees.
“We sat next to each other in class. We had lunch together. We went on socials together. Since then I hear people attempting to pigeonhole him as xenophobic, anti-immigrant, racist, hostile and all these other things.
“There is always going to be an attack on his character, an attempt to discredit the work he’s been doing to expose these frauds. Just like there was an attempt to charge him with corruption a few years ago.
“But even where he has said things that are problematic, my experience of him leaves me with hope for him.”
Main photo: Betty Woolerton
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