Alexei Navalny’s first video after the poisoning. He says that, despite pressure and aggressive statements from the Russian authorities, he intends to return to Russia and continue his work. He also states plainly that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind the attempt on his life. In addition, he thanks his supporters for their tremendous support.
Text version
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Hi, this is Navalny. I'm incredibly glad that
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I can say these words again, although if
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I'm honest, at one point it seemed to me
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that I would never say them again.
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But one way or another, I'm here again, and I want
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to say three important things now. First, I
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see what is happening, and I understand what
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is happening. I realize that the Kremlin
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is simply dreaming that I won't return.
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That is exactly why they put out
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strange and rather aggressive
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statements every day, and they want me to be afraid.
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And I have no doubt that the only
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suspect in the poisoning case involving
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Navalny will be Navalny himself. But I confirm
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that I will return to Russia. I will continue my
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work. No other option
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was ever considered, and is not being considered now. Second, I
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truly believe, and I am certain, that behind
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the attempt on my life stands the President
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of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and it seems to me that
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all the events that are happening right
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now point to that. Just imagine:
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someone gets their head smashed with a brick, and they
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spend a month in the hospital — a criminal case is opened.
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A criminal case is opened.
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Or of course, someone was nearly killed,
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shot with a pistol, not killed but
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seriously wounded, and they lay in a coma for 18 days.
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A criminal case would of course be opened. So why, in
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my case, is there no criminal case?
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There is no investigation, there is nothing. I don't know
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where my clothes are.
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I cannot get access to my own
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medical records. The deadlines for the investigation
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passed a long time ago.
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Nothing is happening. All day long, the only thing happening is that
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the Russian government, for some reason,
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keeps appealing to Germany.
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Why Germany? I am a Russian citizen
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who was nearly killed in a Siberian
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city.
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I collapsed on a Russian plane
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that was flying on a domestic route, and I demand that
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the investigation be conducted in Russia and that
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justice be carried out in Russia. The fact
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that this is not happening tells me
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that there is a central decision-making hub.
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That center, of course, is in the Kremlin.
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Because who controls everything — the police,
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the courts, the FSB (Russia's security service), the hospitals? Some kind of global
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reptilian government? Of course not.
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Putin controls it. We have a worthless scrap of paper
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instead of a constitution, but even in it
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it says that he is the head of state, and
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the guarantor of that very constitution, and everything
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happens with his knowledge.
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If he wanted an investigation, this case
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would already have been solved. It is not complicated.
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I am under surveillance 24 hours a
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day.
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All they need to do is look at the video recordings from
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the hotel, look at everyone there,
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everyone who approached me, who entered
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my room — this case is very easy.
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But it is not being solved because the one
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who ordered this crime does not want
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it to be solved, and that is Putin.
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Personally, I am absolutely certain of that. And
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third — and most importantly, really —
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why I decided to record this video: I want
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to say thank you to all of you, to thank you
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for the enormous support that was given to me
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.
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By all kinds of people — people I know and
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people I don't. I'm not a very mystical
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person, but in this case
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it really seems to me that this
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enormous support somehow
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materialized and helped me
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pull through.
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I found myself in a very difficult situation,
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so thank you, guys,
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thank you so much.
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I will try to return as soon as possible
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and, together with you, continue our struggle for
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the beautiful Russia of the future.