VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images
- Alexey Navalny, Putin's most prominent critic, commented on US politics months before his death.
- Navalny expressed concern over a potential second Trump term in letters to a friend.
- Trump briefly mentioned Navalny's death in a Truth Social post on Monday.
Alexey Navalny, the dissident and political nemesis of Russian President Vladimir Putin, spent the last few years of his life behind bars but still managed to stay connected to the outside world.
Letters from the final months of his life, obtained by The New York Times, showed Navalny, who had been imprisoned since January 2021, managed to stay on top of current events — including in the US.
In a letter sent to a friend, photographer Evgeny Feldman, Navalny called former President Donald Trump's agenda for a second term "really scary," according to the Times.
If President Joe Biden has a health issue, "Trump will become president," Navalny continued, adding, "Doesn't this obvious thing concern the Democrats?"
In another letter to Feldman dated December 3, Navalny again expressed concern over Trump and asked his friend, "Please name one current politician you admire."
Trump's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
On December 6, Navalny disappeared from the IK-6 penal colony 120 miles east of Moscow. He turned up again on Christmas Day when his lawyers announced they had located him at the IK-3 penal colony, 1,000 miles northeast of Moscow, above the Arctic Circle.
The Times reported that Navalny's communication ability from his new prison was greatly diminished.
Journalist Sergei Parkhomenko received a letter from Navalny on February 13, a few days before his death was announced. In the letter, which Parkhomenko shared on Facebook, Navalny spoke of books and said he only had access to classics at his new prison.
"Who could've told me that Chekhov is the most depressing Russian writer?" he wrote.
Trump, for his part, did not mention Navalny in the days after his death, despite condemnations from other leaders who directly blamed Putin.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump briefly mentioned Navalny before directing his ire at his own perceived political opponents: "The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country. It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction."
He did not mention either Russia or Putin.