The Navalny I knew was naive about Putin’s Russia, but he gave us hope. We are his hope now

‘Alexei Navalny grew up and became a politician after the collapse of the USSR, during a brief period when freedom came to Russia.’ A poster outside the Russian embassy in London. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

The candle that cast at least a little light in Vladimir Putin’s darkness has been snuffed out. The official report claims Alexei Navalny “died”. Between “he died” and “he has been murdered”, there is a difference the size of Russia. My country no longer exists.

A Russia that so casually destroys its finest is not a country you can live in. In a land you can live in there is no space for this kind of criminal regime. The state that goes under the name of the Russian Federation, which visits death and malignancy on those who live in it and on the world at large, simply should not exist.