Alexei Navalny, the most prominent opposition leader in Russia, passed away on Friday after collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony where he was serving a long jail term. Navalny, 47, was considered the leading figure among Russia’s splintered opposition and gained admiration for voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 after what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia. He rose to prominence with blogs that exposed vast corruption across the Russian elite, using the internet and drones to illustrate their opulent lifestyles. Navalny long forecasted political turmoil in Russia and was detained countless times for organizing public rallies and prosecuted on politically motivated charges. The Kremlin dismissed his allegations of vast corruption, with Russian officials casting him as an extremist and denying his claims of personal wealth and corruption. Navalny had an extra 19 years added to his jail term in 2023 in a case he said was designed to subdue the Russian people politically. In August 2020, he fell ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow and was treated in Germany for the effects of a neurotoxin. Navalny’s wife is Yulia and they have two children, Darya and Zakhar. He was known for his outspoken quotes on the Ukraine war, Putin, Russia, and his fearlessness in the face of danger.