Navalny daughter urges EU members to confront Putin regime

Daria Navalnaya, daughter of jailed dissident Alexei Navalny, urged European Union members to confront the aggression of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech to MEPs on Wednesday.

Navalnaya appealed to EU governments to crack down on Europe's facilitators of corruption in Russia. She also called for governments to reject the "cynicism" of pragmatic relations with Moscow.

"The pacification of dictators and tyrants never works. No matter how many people try to deceive themselves, hoping that another [mad man] who clings to power will behave decently in response to concessions and flirtations, it will never happen," said Navalnaya.

"The very essence of authoritarian power involves a constant increase in bets, an increase in aggression and the search for new enemies," she said.

Navalnaya was in the French city of Strasbourg to receive the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on behalf of her father.

The lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner is one of the most prominent opponents of Putin's regime. He narrowly survived a poisoning attempt last year, and was treated in Germany.

Navalny is currently imprisoned in a high-security penal colony, after being arrested and summarily sentenced upon his return to Russia for violation of parole conditions while he was recovering in Germany.

Experts in Germany and elsewhere concluded that Navalny had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. The attack led to more international sanctions against Russia. Putin has denied that he was behind the poisoning.

EU lawmakers selected Navalny as their 2021 laureate in October, prompting criticism from Moscow.

The Sakharov Prize has been awarded by the European Parliament since 1988 to personalities or organizations that defend human rights and freedom of expression.