in a phone call how the novichok was used against him. that was then broadcast on his youtube channel shortly after he released a video offering, russians are look at what his team called putin's palace a mansion by the black sea, estimated to be worth more than $1 billion it's through material illusionism leah, president putin denied the palace belongs to him or his family members >> look at january >> 2021, navalny returned to moscow after receiving lifesaving treatment in germany. he was immediately arrested for violating probation terms imposed from a 2014 case and sent to a penal colony where he went on hunger strike, protesting against so prison officials refusal to grant him access to proper medical care. he'll be remembered for his bravery in tackling corruption across russia. and as one of vladimir putin's biggest adversaries

cnn breaking news >> good morning, everyone. i'm erica hill with omar jimenez in new york, poppy and phil, our office this morning we begin this hour with the breaking news out of russia, the russian prison service reporting opposition leader alexey navalny has died in prison. again, this information coming from the country's prison service navalny was 47 years old. the cause of his death at this hour is a mystery. we do have team coverage for you this hour we want to begin with nick paton hey, walsh, who was in munich. you are there for the munich security conference. this will likely change a lot of those discussions before we get to that impact though, nic just give us a sense of where things stand this morning given that we are learning from the prison service, that alexey navalny has in fact died >> we don't have independent confirmation, but frankly, given how information function putin's russia is close to it,

as you might expect, the prison service itself from the region where annexin-v one was incarcerated near the arctic circle, very tough conditions in colony number three, they're saying that he lost consciousness during a walk on the morning of february 16? doctors were unable to revive him. now, we're not hearing from his team confirmation as i say, and they are dependent on information from the prison service. and indeed, apparently his lawyer is traveling the harp, the city in the uml note, the nets kill autonomy is region where that prison is located. but given what we know about the fate of opposition figures in putin's russia, the fate indeed, even if you yevgeny a former putin confidant, to turned against last year and then died in a suspicious plane crash. it seems reasonable at this stage to suggest that a next navalny, one of the most charismatic and prominent opposition figures, russia has indeed known certainly the most prominent of the putin era, has lost his life. now, already, we are hearing leading european politicians pointing the finger at the kremlin, the president

of latvia, saying that he has been murdered by the putin regime he even encouraging people to, while they feel condolences for his family to remember that clear fact, the president of norway saying indeed, that's the russian government's bears heavy responsibility for navalny's death. and so while information at this stage is pretty scant, as i say, we may never get that fully independent confirmation exactly. pete, what's happened here. it does appear that the next thing navalny is dead. now that's important, obviously, because it shows us something about how vladimir putin feels at this particular time navalny was pretty much as far out of the way as you could put him? yes. he was still able to occasionally communicate through a loyalty and through social media but he was out, it seems of the political arena. he never really got a foothold in the electoral process. nobody does, apart from vladimir putin, realistically, in his russia, yet still, vladimir putin felt a degree of threat. now i should remind you that this is going to take over discussions behind me here

discussions that were being overshadowed by trump, former trump remarks about nato members not paying their dues and potentially him goading putin on to attack them. this is that a mitt putin's threat. at its clearest, at its most real and possibly also to maybe this most paranoid navalny, as i say, was kind of out of the way in that arctic prison, yet still, it appears that his death occurs. the most fair to say, certainly within the custody or duty of care of the russian government itself, we are due to here in the next hour or so from vice president kamala harris. she had remarks prepared to try and project confidence reassurance that the united states was stigma with its nato allies. many people here knew that trump felt that way about russia and about nato, but still to be reminded the possibility that the end of the year indeed that may loom again as a threaten, europe may have to go it alone. very key here, but ultimately, you could not have a more soul reminder of the urgency the danger that

vladimir putin places to europe with the ukraine war enter into its third year. and to his own population. and that autocratic environment than what we've heard today. the the horrifying death of alexei navalny, a courageous opposition figure in russia, persistent, even when jailed and the most harsh conditions russia could find. remember the arctic circle in siberia, a tough places via frankly, even if you are not the leading opposition figure against the putin government. but yet again, another opposition figure who's opposed vladimir putin, who has met a suspicious, if not, according to some ukrainian european politicians already murder a sense back to you yeah and nick, obviously it will be v top of discussion for the munich security conference. there were again, global leaders are meeting on that very topic. security. and along those lines, i do want to bring in david sanger and bring him back cnn political and national security analyst. david, look as some of what nic spoke about whether it's have getting prigozhin of course now, we

don't have these specific blame here in regards to alexey navalny, but we know that he has been an opposition leader to the kremlin, or whether it's russian beliefs about invading ukraine. does this latest chapter create a broader concern for nato countries, for example, some of those that will be meeting at the security conference >> if i'm in munich too, and i can tell you that this concern has been a very deep one. even before then navalny news i was with us officials. this morning in munich and i don't think they had any indication that this was coming but they've been concerned about navalny and he was really a, the most remarkable figure because even in jail, even in the arctic, he is the symbol of his opposition and its ability to get out messages periodically kaylee was the last bastion of

opposition to putin in russia. if you think about it you know, obviously they probably tried to kill him many times, but the in the past six months, we've seen the prigozhin uprising put down and goshen himself died in an airplane crash. as elections approach in russia this is the very last major decision. and what it tells you is, first of all, putin was feeling nervous second of all that, he knows where he's headed into years of confrontation with the west, particularly as ukraine board goes on. and he wants to be in a position where there is no chipping away at his power in russia. i don't know that navalny's deaths will it? pete that for him? i suspect that navalny could be powerful beyond the grave as a symbol of

opposition, continuing opposition to food but it certainly puts him out of the way at a moment that the europeans are both nervous about the united states and wondering how they prepare themselves for years of confrontation with a country that they thought. just a few years ago was going to become part of europe. >> there were already major concerns heading into this conference. the conversation has certainly changed just in the last 20 minutes or so. also wanna bring in clarissa ward, cnn's chief international correspondent. clarissa picking up on where david left off there terms of the influence of alexey navalny, you told us last hour you asked him why he was going back when he was decided to go back to russia and he said he would never give putin such a gift to not continue to serve the russian people. how does his influence and how strong do you think it will be? how does it continue in these moments? because i imagine it's certainly will i think there's no question that in death, his message and his courage may

>> be even more compelling and more powerful and possibly even more of a threat. although i think it's always easy to get ahead of ourselves on that front in terms of understanding those sort of broader for perspective of the russian people. but alexei navalny really established himself as the anti-putin on every level, even down to a personal level. and i think it's important that we acknowledged right now, in addition to being an extraordinarily courageous, dissident, alexei navalny was a devoted husband to hughley and navalnaya. indeed, the final message that he put out on his telegram channel was a valentine's message to yulia, february 14. he's a father of dasha and the car is two children. and the whole way in which he presented himself was as approachable down to earth, not hugely wealthy, loving his wife, ending out with his kids.

and it's in such stark contrast to what we see with president putin, who has been married, once and divorced and has various reports of illinois do you make children but we don't really see them. they're not in the public eye. and his whole manner is precisely predicated on this idea of being untouchable and extremely formal. and we have no sense of what he is like behind the curtain, so to speak. and he would the able to touch people, i think particularly because he honed in on the issue of corruption because russian people, while they may be willing to tolerate a lot and while they may have different views about democracy than the flash does they definitely felt an indignant at the amount of money that putin's kleptocracy

with stealing from ordinary people and squirreling away. and whether it was building huge palaces on the black sea to the tune of 1 billion alexei navalny and his team were their documenting it, sending drones over the former president dimitri medvedev, bolt hole in the countryside worth reportedly hundreds of millions of dollars. and exposing the greed and exposing the corruption and really make thinking it's so clear to ordinary russians that their money and their country's wealth were being stolen from them. and what's fascinating to me though, is that president putin in this moment, where as you heard, nick paton walsh say earlier, didn't have one any longer really pose a threat to putin. he was languishing in this very remote penal colony. he had terrible health issues? yes, he was still able to

maintain a voice but he didn't pose any significant or substantial threat to vladimir putin in terms of taking power or being able to run in elections are being able to launch some kind of an uprising and so why did this happen? in this moment? is it possible? of course, we know that navalny had many a health issues over the last few years in which he has been held in very brutal and challenging circumstances. he has repeatedly talked about significant problems with his stomach. he was on hunger strike for awhile. he reported being heavily over medicated one stage, but one has to wonder why this moment. one would either choose to kill alexei navalny is that's what has happened. or even if it has happened in a sort of slower, more subtle away, it's still

clearly not subtle. and so what exactly what message is one telegraphing with this? is this really the last gas than for any voice of dissidents of criticism in russia. and now that has been stomped out once since rule, or does this create another window for people who might be extraordinarily courage, courageous, like navalny to continue to speak out >> and just to catch some folks up a kremlin spokesman does say that russian president vladimir putin has been informed of reports of alexey navalny's death. that's according to state run media. but the spokesperson for election, navalny says that while these reports are spreading, they have no confirmation of this just yet, alexei's lawyer is currently on the way to that prison sites, so we'll update if we get more information from the navalny spokesperson. but but clarissa what i wanted to ask you is that you've

obviously spoken with navalny several times over the past few years. obviously. back going back to august 20, '20s, august 2020, that's when he was poisoned. he makes the decision to come back to russia in 2021. did you ever get the sense that he was concern for his well-being at all >> no. i think he was genuinely one of those extraordinary individuals and that's not a word i use lightly, but in conversations with him, it was clear to me that he was wired differently. the genuinely placed his belief and his mission, and the people that he saw himself as being in service to a head of his personal needs, desires. and of course, is own personal and i'll security. it takes a very, very specific type of mindset to

survive being poisoned with novichok being in a coma. and just by really a fluke and luck surviving that and waking up and going through rehabilitation process and being surrounded by your family and who you love so much, who you are so close with. and making the agonizing decision to go back to risk it all again, to be separated from your family again. and what's fascinating to me is that for alexei, at least for navalny, at least on the surface of it. it wasn't an agonizing decision. it was an obvious decision. it was a decision he had made even before he consulted with other people. and when you spoke to those closest to him and in his inner circle, there had obviously been converse station's about whether this was sensible, whether he would indeed survive it. >> but >> he knew what he was meant to

do and he believed fervently in that. and i think he saw himself as a sort of nelson mandela figure for the russian people the broader question that always lurks in the background was, is russia ready for analysis and mandela figure in this moment and now, as we see in this dark, dark day was vladimir putin ever going to accept even if it posed only the most minimal threat, the existence of a nelson mandela type of figure, even in the background on russian territory. and so he clearly was caught from a different cloth than the vast majority of people. and he had this extraordinary clarity of thought about him. he really understood implicitly what he

believed he was meant to do. in any given moment. and that here's what made him so compelling as a leader. and while he never really had the opportunity to run for office and a conventional way, although he had tried, he was struck for the ballots. when you tried to run for the mayor of moscow, but he was able to galvanize millions, hundreds of millions of views on youtube and followers online for the content that he was producing, which was undermining the not just the role that the kremlin was playing, the crimes that they were committing, but so the competence or lack thereof with which they were running the country under cutting their message in so many ways that they were have been trying so hard to put out there. clarissa, stay with us, also wanna get back to nick paton walsh. who is there at the munich security conference. if you're just joining us, obviously this is a major topic

of conversation. this will change those conversations since there, as i understand it, nick, president zelenskyy is actually speaking right now. we're going to continue to monitor those remarks. but as we look at what this means for ukraine, there is the broader her question about what russia does now, but it is also how do members, how do allies now respond? does it change potentially the response in ukraine to helping ukraine? >> yeah look, i mean, have to say tragic and awful sacrifice. it seems that navalny has made in pursuing his position there's an opposition figure in russia, as clarissa was saying, his capacity to influence change necessarily in russia had been reduced. and so what today's awful news done plus, is remind people here of a very clear and present threat of how utterly ruthless, if indeed, it turns out in the fullness of time, the kremlin was behind this as some opinion, politicians are already intimating quite the

ruthlessness and the clear and immediate danger that russia presents. now that has sort of faded into the background to some degree gray here with greater concerns after former president trump's about nato whether or not the us would stick with nato in the event of russian aggression with the ongoing israeli assault against rafah in people there's minds too, but now it is very clear to everybody here, every question that will be asked, and that will likely make its way into kamala harris is speech in the next 40 minutes or so that they need to respond to the death of navalny. and this is frankly, to some degree extraordinary because vladimir putin had managed to isolate his key most charismatic, most voluminous on social media opponents in that arctic circle prison comments to his wife on telegram about valentine's day, a court appearance apparently was on 15 february, in which he appeared to mock the judge. he was speaking to. and then according to russian february peloton entry service is death

on the morning of the 16th out of the way to some degree. and now here is thrust back into the limelight as two is this ultimate question of the state of mind of vladimir putin. if indeed it is proven in the fullness of time, he had any connection to the death of navalny as some already alleged it's clear that putin dislikes intensely any sense of opposition or threats in the past, he has enabled his opponents sort of been deprived of the oxygen of publicity removed from the electoral process. but here we have clearly a kremlin that's even through its lack of care of navalny, preferred him dead than alive. after the death in a suspicious plane crash or the former putin confidant yevgeny prigozhin, who led so much of the frontline efforts with his wagner mercenaries in ukraine. he died after leading that short-lived than perhaps deeply complex misunderstood rebellion against putin won weekend. and i can list endless previous opponents of putin we've met

confusing, sticky, suspicious, murderous ends, often with poisoning. to remember navalny himself or poisoned as well. so we are dealing with the kremlin head ta, who clearly has significant paranoia. and is that a reflection of how safe he feels in his position or what does it mean for the ukraine war going forwards, these things do not occur in isolation patient, yes, navalny's death is not going to change the front lines and ukraine, a tool is it going to influence the decision-making of republicans in congress about getting through the $60 billion that ukraine so urgently needs well, maybe, maybe not they seem lost in their own whirlpool. there but it really is a reminder for everyone behind me here that russia is a talking point that was the main thing but plenty of distractions around it risks that not being pacific rated with loudness that moscow's critics was like, but it's going to be front and center now for the next two days. >> and whether their shifts posturing of the us government, that's entirely separate conversation, but it'll be interesting to see how vice president kamala harris frames

that up when she speaks a little that later this morning here on this coast, clarissa ward, nick paton, walsh, david sanger. thank you so much. a we're also getting reaction in real-time from the kremlin's spokesman, dmitry peskov, saying it is for doctors to find out the cause of alexey navalny's death. and i'm quoting here, as far as we're aware and accordance with all the rules to prison services carrying out checks and clarifications this does not require any particular order due to the existing set of rules used as guidance. and i want to also say that this comes as we're hearing from navalny spokesperson saying that they are trying to confirm these reports that have spread up to this. right. and i believe it was nick who is telling us are oppressors closer that his attorney is on his way, there and we should remember this prison where he was being held near the arctic circle is not easy to get to and that was one of the concerns. after he was moved there, that would be more difficult to communicate with him because it takes some time to get to that location as we continue to follow this breaking news, if you are just joining us, russians prison service saying that opposition leader alexey navalny has died

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>> a survey, 92% of current users said they wish they talked to their dr. and started oh, talk sooner. so ask your dr. if botox is right for you, learn how ads he could help you save on botox. >> everyone sees meanwhile, at a vrbo. >> when other vacation rentals are just for likes, try one, you'll actually like i'm evan perez in washington. >> and this is cnn welcome back. if >> you're just joining us with the breaking news, reuters now reporting, we've been following these remarks that president volodymyr zelenskyy is making at this hour. zelenskyy saying it is obvious russia's navalny was killed by putin putin does not care who dies and seeks to maintain his position. again, that translation coming to us from waiters, but these are comments. you see president zelenskyy speaking. they're speaking at this moment. we're also getting reaction from the white house white house correspondent arlette seinz,

joining us now, national security adviser, jake sullivan, weighing in arlette, what else are we hearing in terms of the white house? house's reaction >> well, erica, national security adviser jake sullivan spoke moments ago in an interview on npr saying that the us was still working to confirm the reports of navalny's death, but that this is a terrible tragedy. i want to read you a bit of what jake sullivan exactly how to say. he said, quote, if it's confirmed it is a terrible tragedy and given the russian government's along and sorted history of doing harm to its opponents. it raises real and obvious questions about what happened here. he added, but i will withhold further comments on until we learn more and we are actively seeking confirmation. as i know, mr. navalny's family is as well, and will determine from there what comes next. this is something we certainly should expect to hear from president biden as well, probably in the forum at the very least in a paper statement, but it comes as the administration has had deep concerns about navalny's imprisonment and president

biden has personally raise this issue with vladimir putin himself. he brought this up in the very first it's phone call he had with putin when he took office, they calling for his immediate release. and then when the two leaders sat down in geneva, switzerland back in 2021, the president told reporters that he made clear to putin that there would be consequences if navalny were to die in prison and said that the consequences of that would be devastating. getting to russia. i want you to take a moment and take a listen to how exactly the president frame that back in 2021 what are you seeing? >> what happened if opposition leader alexey navalny dies >> i made it clear to him that i believe the consequences of that would be devotee they're stating for russia >> one of the big questions going forward, if this is actually confirmed, is what those consequences would look like. it's worth noting that the president, i've made that statement in 2021 long before

russia had invaded ukraine. so perhaps there's a change in the thinking for how exactly these consequences would look like. but this is something that the white house has been a watching very closely. they've had concerns about it. they've repeatedly called for nevada navalny's immediate release from prison. and now the question is, what will happen next? now, we also anticipate seeing vice president kamala harris speaking in munich and about an hour secretary of state antony blinken is also there. that is certainly expected to dominate conversations while they are meeting with world leaders today. but at this moment, the us is still working to see confirmation that navalny has died in prison. and what led to it? >> arlette saenz at the white house. arlette, appreciate it. thank you. >> now, we are also hearing from nato secretary general on this death. take a listen. >> i am deeply saddened and concerned about reports from russia alexei navalny is

>> all the facts has >> to be as stablished on russia has serious she of questions to answer >> alexei >> navalny has been strong voice for freedom, for democracy for many years and joining us now is professor of international affairs at the new school, nina khrushcheva and former cnn moscow bureau >> chief jill dougherty. so nina, i want to start with you because just last week, you wrote about the economic struggle, struggles facing russia and how the war is forcing putin's problem again, to machine into overdrive. you wrote, quote, the more problems putin, putin's regime has, the louder the propaganda how does this death as reported, fit into that propaganda? >> hi, thank you. well, it's not even just the load of the propaganda which it is very loud. but also the more deaf happen, the more deaf come

because it's an operates and sort of this old kgb styling era, particular styling error formula is that the more people dying, the more people are suffering, the more the kremlin is paranoid. and so the more the kremlin is paranoid, the more it goes into the offensive because it thinks it is defending itself. and so that's what i fear most is not that it is propaganda is going to increase, is that the violence of this regime is going to increase all the often it seems that there was no more, there was no more ways to increase it, but there there is always isn't a kgb state. there was always ways to please violence jail to that point. and >> again, there is no >> confirmation that the kremlin is linked to the death of alexey navalny. in fact, the kremlin saying they're letting doctors do their thing so that they can get confirmation and details that being said. if we look at this how how does this play into the idea of the paranoia that vladimir putin

could potentially have if navalny is seen as such a threat, right? that even in this diminished state, his health had been terrible as we know, he was up near the arctic circle. it was much more difficult for him to communicate. can you just put that in context for us? >> well, i would put it into context right now. the russian presidential election, which is coming up in the middle of march. and so the kremlin history able to eliminate any opposition to president putin to the administration to end basic to the kremlin in general. and so navalny was the biggest person, i think worldwide, who was the person who really got to putin by talking about corruption? because if there's one thing that really resonates with russians, it's corruption, and then there there's one other person i think that we ought to be very mindful of who is there right now and his name is

vladimir kara-murza. he is well-known in russia. he is well-known outside of russia among people who care about russia. and he is languishing in another prison. so i think important to watch what happens. but i think right now, the kremlin, there was no question is paranoid because they are going after average russian citizens for expressing any type of opposition to putin or to the war in ukraine. i mean, it ridiculous thing it's individuals are being arrested for merely liking something on social media. so i do agree with nina that there is a level of paranoia and when that happens in russia, things get very, very unpredictable. and i would say right now, it's a pretty it's a militarized place and would say increasingly repressive and even violent

>> picking up on that. and i'll throw this one to you in terms of tying this to the presidential election vladimir milov, who was one of navalny's advisers, former deputy energy minister, told at told cnn back in december when navalny went missing that he thought that was in fact related to the upcoming presidential election. just take a listen to a little bit of what he said them >> i think that's a deliberate tactic. it is no coincidence that navalny disappeared exactly the moment when the so-called sham presidential election those were amounts to putin allows that he's going to be running again, putting is really willing to show that he's going to enter the kremlin office for another term through intimidation, through repression, through pressure on the society. and that's clearly a black against all their position forces there's talk about those opposition forces the way things are being cracked down upon. our position is being cracked down upon what

we have seen over the last two years to in the wake of the war in ukraine after russia invaded a massive crackdown on information what does this ultimately mean for folks inside of russia and how much more difficult it will be perhaps to get information that is not filtered, that is not propaganda what is it is difficult, but it's also fully available. i mean, it's getting difficult more >> they are now internet channels. they used to be a radio and tv, but now the internet, a lot of them actually, what a lot of them, some of them are still coming out with russia. sum of people are still reporting in russia.

the problem is that as we spoke about propaganda, is that the monolith of information coming from the kremlin. it's hard to node being affected by it because it's not just the tv, it's not just the prominent you go and i was just in russia for six months until very recently until last month. and you go to any museum in any russian city. and every exhibition will be related either to the empire, empire, russia today, or to the soviet union. so you can't escape it even if you have inflammation and that's a very, very powerful force as for the s, for the elections of horace. i mean, we just saw this amazing presidential candidate nigerian, who gathered and now he's of course not allowed to run, but gathered hundreds and hundreds of people in the streets in the cold standing to sign sign petition that he

should run for president. so our position is somewhere. it's not just the systemic composition as the deposition is somewhere and i think of putin as somebody who is very much afraid that something will go wrong before march 15, 15th, when the election start and people were saying, well, before the elections will go through and then it will get better. i actually we don't think it's going to get better because the more he sits in the kremlin, the more he gets paranoid, the more everybody becomes an enemy. i'm not of the view that they may have killed navalny necessarily themselves, but he was sitting in their prison and the men torturing him. so they are guilty even if it was no direct order for him to get eliminated. >> yeah. and that's an important distinction as we tried to confirm, the kremlin, of course, has not said not taken responsibility for this. and also as we tried to confirm these reports, alexey navalny's spokesperson says a lawyer is on the weight of the prison to try and confirm some

of what we've heard. but jill i think jill, one of the things that we are monitoring is out of this munich security conference. we're seeing reaction from nato leaders, german chancellor olaf scholz says russian opposition leader alexey navalny paid for his courage with his life. and i'm curious, just from your perspective, look, navalny was in prison. what sort of threat though? did he pose to the kremlin? did he pose to an election if you want to call it that of vladimir putin >> you know, i don't think that alec saying about what was going to stop putin from being re-elected. i mean, there's no question. proofing is going to be reelected. but what he did it was with that message about corruption and the rich rulers and what they were doing. >> i, >> again, i think he got to the people of russia who see this in their daily lives. and so it's very hard to gauge that people right now cannot go into

the streets. they can't go on on social media. they cannot do anything to overtly oppose the kremlin. but beneath the surface, they can, people can believe that the kremlin is corrupt. they can support another way, another candidate but there's no, as nina put, it, says stomach, there's no organized opposition that doesn't mean there isn't opposition and you know, on that point about whether the kremlin killed him or not this is going to be debating. i just noticed that the spokesperson for the foreign ministry already is criticizing the west for saying, well, maybe the kremlin killed navalny. i don't think in the end. i mean, even eventually maybe 20 years from now, we'll find out. but i think the important thing is that he did die in that prison. he was mistreated. it was a slow death. that's the

way i would and he went back knowing that that is what the kremlin does. i mean, just look at the way he was treated. he was in solitary confinement every single week. it seemed and he was moved from place to place. the kremlin wanted alec navalny to be forgotten. that was the idea. but of course he wasn't forgotten and he was able to, in an extraordinary fashion still communicate by social media with his fellow russians and with the world. so with this increasing paranoia, i do think that the kremlin will be will be on pins and needles until that election takes place, and when it's over, i think the repression is only, only going to increase because putin will then have free reign to do whatever he wants jill dougherty at nina khrushcheva. appreciate you both being with us this morning. >> yeah. and if you're just

joining us, the breaking news this hour, russian opposition leader and top putin critic alexey navalny has died in prison, according to russian prison officials, navalny spokesperson says they are on the way to the prison to try and confirm some of this news our breaking news coverage continues after a quick break >> this tax season, it's time for you to get with straight talk wireless. you get unlimited data and you get a samsung galaxy a 15th. so you can give your janky phone here, kid >> turn your tax refund the into a you fund with straight-talk wireless. >> did you know you weighs 200 hours a year hand-washing dishes, switch to your dishwasher and cascade platinum plus. all you have to do is scraped load and you're done cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently from o behavior to oh, baby

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>> we are continuing to following this breaking news out of russia or with a russian prison service is reporting this morning that opposition leader alexey navalny has died in prison. again, that's coming from the country's prison service his last social media post, loving valentine's day, tribute to his wife. the translation baby, everything is like in a song with you. their cities between us, the takeoff lights of airfields, blue snowstorms, thousands of kilometers. but i feel that you are near every second. and i love you more and more. alexey navalny was 47 years old. the cause of his death remains a mystery at this hour with us now, clarissa ward and bremmer and jill dougherty. >> clarissa quick, just pick >> up on that post there that he put out. we've talked so much about who he was as an opposition leader, what it meant to vladimir putin, why we saw this paranoia the way that he was able to amass such a following. but you made such an injury? you're seeing point in our last hour talking about who alexey navalny was as a person, how dedicated to his wife, to

his children, which i think really speaks to two, why he made the decisions he made >> absolutely. and he had this essence of being incredibly disarming because he had an extraordinary presence about him, an extraordinary level of conviction of courage, but he was very down to earth, very funny which a lot of people might not realize right away given the context that he was working and living in incredibly devoted did to his wife, yulia. they had this sort of epic love story going back to being teenagers. almost they had two children together. he was very hands-on as a father, but he also had this sense of calling that was unmistakable that his children understood that yulia understood but even though it came at a great cost in terms of his ability to be present with them. and they ultimately were able to support

him in that incredibly difficult decision to leave germany, where he had been recuperating after being poisoned with novichok and returned to russia, even though oh, it was almost a foregone conclusion that he would be arrested and detained upon his arrival. and so the story of that sacrifice is deeply embedded in that whole family and what was incredible when you talk to him, as i had the fortune june to do before he went back, was the clarity and ease with which he was able to make that decision to return to russia, understanding fully well, the wrist don't forget. he had been poisoned with novichok, a lethal nerve agent. it was a miracle of sorts that he even survive that, that he was still alive and still made the decision to go back understanding that if he was to stay in europe, he would be in

exile. he would no longer be relevant, and he would no longer able really to be able to serve the people of russia, which is what he found felt fundamentally on a very deep level, was his calling and was his mission. and so the question now becomes, and i guess we're joined as you mentioned by ian bremmer, who is the president of the eurasia group, who is at the munich security conference. but ian, i'd like to get your thoughts more broadly on what this port tens for the future is this the death of any opposition in russia or will alexei navalny and his death potentially give rise to more opposition? what do you think the significance of this moment is going forward? >> well, you know, i mean, russia is having elections later this year and they're not democratic elections. and there's no real opposition that's allowed to participate, but it's always been important for putin to have the pretense

of these trappings of democracy. a potemkin democratic and open system. it's, it's why he likes to still have polls, some of which still have some level of independence. he likes the fact that he had had navalny and other opposition members that are allowed to exist or in jail. and go through sort of a judicial process. even though everybody understands that there's nothing that is legitimate about, about any of it. and so yeah, i do believe that putin intends to continue to allow some level of says saint sank approved opposition in the country. but that's very different from the level of impunity that the russian government and putin personally feels in having this guy assassinated. and let's be clear on what it almost certainly is. this is a message

to the west it's a message to the united states. it's a message to the ukrainians. i will do what i want in my system. i'll do what i want on the ground in ukraine and i absolutely know that you want going to be able to ultimately stop me, that that is the chilling message here is munich security security conference starts on the ground with all of the leaders from nato here. that's the message that's being sent loud and clear by the russians who are not welcome or not invited to this meeting. >> any and i obviously i want to underscore that. you don't officially the kremlin has said that they are looking into why he died. we don't know yet exactly what the cause of it was. i think there are many people we will make the argument whether it was an assassination or not. what alexei navalny be dead if he wasn't languishing in a penal colony by the arctic circle. but coming back to the munich security conference, does it change the calculation there were at this pivotal moment

we're looking at america on the cusp of making very pivotal decisions about giving aid to ukraine, about the nature of nato's role. how does this affect those calculations and those conversations? >> the importance of nato should be clarified in the minds of every single representative here at the munich security conference. >> this >> is why nato exists. this is why ukraine and georgia and moldova and others have been so desperate to join. it's not because they want to fight against the russians. it's because they are scared of what happens if the society is taken over by the russians. it's meant to be an expression of freedom and sovereignty of popular will. and the united headed in europe have really very responsibly for almost two years, provided an enormous amount of support that has allowed ukraine to continue to exist as an independent state. it's surely would not be

without nato. but again, what we see right now, the mood in munich is that this is fraying that but the counter offensive by the ukrainians has largely failed. >> that >> ukraine is on the defense even though they're able to blow up a lot of russian ships in the black sea that american support is increasingly open to very severe question. and let's hope let's hope that navalny's death was not in vain either for the tens and tens of millions of people in russia that would like to have a better life, would like to have the ability to express some personal liberties and freedoms. but also for all of the ukrainians that have been courageously fighting against a much bigger economy. a bunch about a much bigger military and increasingly are feeling like the rest of the world may not be there with them >> like did i also want to bring in jill jordi to the conversation? because jill two-part question for you, one, just based on your experience

in russia, do you anticipate we will ever know the truth? who nature of this death and then tailing off of what ian some of what ian said, what are the broader concerns here, especially at a place like the munich conference where you're going to have nato countries, the heads of nato countries altogether in one spot well, if there is an i'm sure there will be an investigation charlie figure out why he died, and they will probably be some type of result which says, well, he was feeling ill, et cetera. earlier already said that it will never be pinned on vladimir for putin or the kremlin, there's no way. and maybe for years and years, we can eventually maybe we'll know what happened. but that's immaterial because i don't think anyone expects that how that will affect the people of russia, i think is a big question mark. and that is really, really important. i

think what they're thinking about this, because putin tried to disappear navalny, they constantly said, well, he's not really a threat, but then they put him in prison. and actually, the polling was that interest or knowledge about him was about vali was diminishing but i think that doesn't say that with this news that will be all over the social media in russia, and probably officially, but you never know but definitely russians will know this will have a reaction. we just don't know how to gauge it now, on the west i think putin real long time ago, at least a year or two ago when he invaded ukraine, gave up on the west. there is no expectation of any type of relationship with the west right now. it is literally a war, and that's how

the criminal it looks it. so in a sense putin will, will say, well, we're of course really good. criticism from the west about this, but we don't care because actually his focus right now is more domestically and the control that he has or doesn't have in his country. and there is when paranoia about that. >> so >> i don't think they're going to worry too much about what the west says, can't get any worse than it is. but domestically i think they're going to be very concerned. and i think we're going to see even more repression coming from the kremlin which really saying something based on what we've seen even in just the last couple of years since the start of the war in ukraine, i just want to ask you quickly, we're waiting to hear vice president kamala >> harris is set to address the munich security conference this morning. what we knew was that a large part of this was going to be to reassure members, to reassure the us commitment to nato how do you anticipate those comments will now be changing this morning given the

news out of russia of navalny's death >> i think she'll certainly make direct reference to the navalny death. and again, jill's absolutely right. you're right. we don't know. we'll never going to know if the kremlin was directly possible for putin refuses to mention navalny even by name. on is like, oh, this is just a case. i have nothing to do with it. we all know better. it's like when prigozhin suddenly it was killed in his airplane. everybody knew what was behind that. so we're never going to get a straight story from russian propaganda, but we understand exactly what's going on here. the problem is that no matter at or what vice president harris says to this group today, her ability to make long-term commitments to the ukrainians zero given the upcoming election, given the situation, the house of representatives, given what former president trump has been saying about nato and about ukraine over the past month. remember, president biden just months ago, just months ago said and that the united states will stand with ukraine for as long as it takes, whatever it

takes, months later, he says, well, as long as we can, those are two very different things. and here in the munich security conference, that means that the united states looks weak, looks like it can't be committed up on and that's a serious problem. and i think no matter what she says they're going to be waiting to hear what soon to be republican nominee donald trump is going to say about this issue and about putin and about ukraine. and that's incredibly relevant for the future of nato. it's incredibly relevant for the future of ukraine. >> yeah, and clarissa jail, stay with us. we're following the breaking news from russia, top putin critic alexey navalny reported the dead at 47. stay with us >> bladder leak underwear has one job. i just want to feel protected >> especially for those sudden gush moments. always discrete >> protects like no other with a rather drag for that lacks in your heaviest gosh, quickly up to zero leads. always discrete. the protection we dissent

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