Russia's Alexei Navalny is dead at 47

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is dead, the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where he had been serving his sentence said on Friday. He was 47.

In a statement published on its website, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said that Navalny "felt unwell" after a walk on Friday and "almost immediately lost consciousness."   It said that medical staff had been called, but that they were unable to resuscitate Navalny. It said the reason of death was being established.

Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a procedural probe into the death.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been told about Navalny's death, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

No notifications had been made to his relatives as required, Navalny's deputy Ivan Zhdanov said on social media on Friday.

Yulia Navalnya, his wife, called upon the international community to come together and fight against the "horrific regime" in Russia if the reports of Navalny's death were confirmed, in a statement at the Munich Security Conference, speaking in Russian via an interpreter.

"I know that Vladimir Putin, his allies, his friends … will be held responsible for what they had done to our country, to my husband and with our people," she said."

Navalny's work to expose corrupt elites had a pocketbook appeal for Russians' widespread sense of being cheated. Russia's state-controlled television channels ignored Navalny, but his investigations of dubious contracts and officials' luxurious lifestyles got wide attention through YouTube videos and social media posts that often showed his sardonic sense of humour.

In an interview in Moscow in 2011, Navalny was asked by Reuters if he was afraid of challenging Putin's system.

"That's the difference between me and you: you are afraid and I am not afraid," he said. "I realize there is danger, but why should I be afraid?"

Navalny appeared well and cheerful as he gave testimony at a court hearing by videolink on Thursday, dressed in a black prison uniform. He later wrote on social media that he had been given 15 days in solitary confinement.

Lyudmila Navalnaya, his mother, posted on Facebook that he had been "alive, healthy and happy" when she last saw him on Feb 12.

Condemnation quickly poured in from Western governments following the news of his death.

"Alexei Navalny gave his freedom in the hopes of a better, more democratic future for the Russian people," Canada's Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said on X. "Reports of his death are a painful reminder of Putin's continued oppressive regime."