Navalny aide: 鈥楾here is a deep bleeding hole in my heart鈥�
Alexey Navalny鈥檚 former Chief of Staff Leonid Volkov says, 鈥榠t鈥檚 hard for me to get used to this new world where Alexey isn鈥檛 here anymore.鈥�
One of Alexey Navalny鈥檚 most senior aides has spoken to the 大象传媒 about his disbelief that his friend and colleague is no longer alive.
Leonid Volkov had worked with Russian opposition leader Mr Navalny for more than a decade as both a campaign manager and Chief of Staff.
Mr Navalny was found dead on February 16th at the Arctic "Polar Wolf" prison camp - one of Russia's toughest prisons. Several world leaders have directly blamed President Vladimir Putin for his death.
Speaking to HARDtalk鈥檚 Stephen Sackur, Leonid Volkov said, 鈥業 still can鈥檛 believe it frankly. There is a deep bleeding hole in my heart.鈥�
鈥楢lexey was not only a political leader, he was also a very close friend鈥� It鈥檚 hard for me to get used to this new world where Alexey isn鈥檛 here anymore.鈥�
Asked whether he had a feeling of despair since the death of Alexey Navalny, Mr Volkov said, 鈥楴o, that鈥檚 not correct. Alexey was a very inspirational leader and his main slogan was 鈥渘ever give up鈥�.鈥�
鈥楢nd if there is one thing that we have learned from him in the many years that we worked together鈥� it was this thing: never give up.鈥�
鈥楾o be in despair would make his sacrifice in vain, would be a betrayal of his legacy,鈥� Mr Volkov said.
