The McCain Institute posthumously presented the 2024 Courage & Leadership Award to Alexei Navalny in honor of his relentless fight for Russian liberty and freedom. Navalny was a man of impactful courage and conviction who dedicated his life to creating a free and fair democracy in Russia despite many attempts against his life. Navalny’s struggle against corruption and unrelenting commitment to an open and just Russia has moved millions of people across the globe. His death is a tremendous loss, not only for his family and followers but also for the community of global human rights defenders.

The award was accepted by his daughter, Dasha Navalnaya. Watch the featured Navalny video here.

“Thank you so much for having me here tonight. It is an honor to be receiving the courage and leadership award on behalf of my father Alexei Navalny, and being able to share the stage with passionate hard-working people fighting to preserve democracy around the world. I wanted to say a special thank you to Mr. Axelrod for presenting this award tonight, as it holds sentimental value to me personally.

My dad has always said that detention centers and prisons are the best ways to catch up on all of your wanted readings, and throughout his time under arrest, he would choose one or two books out of the dozens that he read that he felt were most important for me to read and would ask for them to be sent to me. Forgetting, of course that I am a college student with a bunch of readings of my own but I am eternally grateful to him for doing so.

One of those books was Believer by David Axelrod. And with each book my dad would recommend to me, he would send a small, very concise note, and in this particular one said ‘Dasha this is a must read, it is a great book. It is everything you need to know about political campaigns, and strategy, and passion about your country.” I agree with him. Mr Axelrod, my father and I are both big fans of yours so thank you again for presenting this award tonight.

My father was truly an extraordinary, extraordinary, courageous man. His resilience, passion, and dedication to a better future for Russia were unwavering. His moral compass, unbreakable. In response, Putin constantly had him arrested, poisoned and prosecuted because the main difference between Putin and my father is that Alexei Navalny believed in basic human dignity. As an attorney and leader, my dad always advocated for the rule of law and equal rights for all. But his dedication to justice was not only professional commitment, but a personal one. He was a religious man. In fact, he gifted me this cross when I turned 18 right before I left for college and I haven’t taken it off ever since. And because he was a religious man, he firmly believed in living with integrity and honesty in all areas of life. He raise my brother and I to work hard. Keep one’s word, stand by one’s convictions, and do everything in love. And he loved his country. So much that he gave his life for it.

Another stellar example of integrity and courage was John McCain, who my father respected greatly. Senator McCain was a true statesman who understood the importance of character driven leadership, bipartisanship and he received a lot of blowback for his willingness to cross party lines and he acted in this way because he understood that democracy is not a self perpetuating machine that magically reinforces itself, it needs constant maintenance through frameworks of check and balances where every individual regardless of the government standing is held accountable for their actions. In 2013 my father was convicted with fabricated embezzlement charges. And even then Senator McCain called for the immediate release of my dad and all political prisoners in Russia. So I want to take this opportunity thank, remind you of, and to call upon the immediate release of thousands of courageous men and women who are still in prison for standing up against the war and the corruption and injustice in Russia.

Until the day my dad was killed, he stood by his convictions. He kept going because he understood the importance of his fight. The fight for democracy, transparency, truth, and justice, and I’m here today to ask and encourage you like I know, my father would not to succumb to your fear. I won’t take anymore of your time. I know you would much rather be listening to Secretary Blinken speak right now, but I would like to leave you with a quote that was actually used in this beautiful video. Thank you for making that. That helps me continue staying as, or more, trying to be as courageous as both my parents are. ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing’ so please do not be inactive. Thank you very much. Have a good rest of your evening.”