Yulia Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny's widow, delivered a speech to the European Parliament this morning following his death.
Alexei inspired people despite the restrictions Putin placed on him during his life, Navalnaya said.
When he was not allowed on TV, he turned to Youtube. When he was denied a vote, he came up with a strategy to take seats away from Putin's party.
"Even in Putin's gulag, Alexei managed to pass on ideas for projects that would make the Kremlin panic," she says.
Navalnaya says to defeat Putin requires becoming an innovator.
She warns that Putin cannot be hurt by sanctions or resolutions, or on the basis of morals and rules.
"This is the answer to the question. If you really want to defeat Putin, you have to become an innovator. And you have to stop being boring.
"You can't hurt Putin with another resolution or another set of sanctions that is no different from the previous ones. You can't defeat him by thinking he's a man of principle who has morals and rules.
Navalny, 47, was a political activist in Russia and a long-time, high-profile critic of President Vladimir Putin.
He will be buried in Moscow on Friday, a spokesperson confirms, after his team struggled to find a funeral home.
Navalnaya has vowed to continue her husband’s work to fight for a “free Russia.”
BBC