Prince William has spoken out about the plight of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny as he met the filmmakers behind the documentary Navalny at Sunday night’s BAFTAs.
The film tells the story of the Russian opposition leader and his poisoning in 2020, with the prince telling the creatives behind the film he wanted to “see how we can help” the politician.
The Prince and Princess of Wales attended the BAFTAs last night for the first time since 2020 and witnessed Navalny pick up the award for Best Documentary.
William told producers Odessa Rae and Shane Boris their work was “seriously impressive” when he met up with them after the show.
He told them their win was “very well deserved” and asked: “What can we do to help?”
Ms Rae encouraged him to “spread the word” about the ordeal faced by Mr Navalny, who is still in prison 250 miles east of Moscow.
The winners dedicated their prize to Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev, who contributed to the film and helped to expose the poisoning plot.
Mr Grozev was told that he and his family would not be able to attend the ceremony due to the “security risk”.
The film’s producer Odessa Rae said: “We want to dedicate this award to Christo Grozev, our Bulgarian nerd with a laptop, who could not be with us tonight because his life is under threat by the Russian government and Vladimir Putin.
“I met Christo in the summer of 2020. His life is fairly private then and he gave up everything to tell the story and many other stories that need to be told.”
Mr Grozev tweeted on Friday: “I was surprised to discover that my whole family and I have all been banned by British police from attending this weekend’s Bafta awards where the documentary #Navalny is nominated. The reason stated: we ‘represent a public security risk’.
“I understand the need to keep the public safe (although I don’t understand how my son or teenage daughter constitutes a risk to the public). But moments like this show the growing dangers to independent journalists around the world.
“These dangers don’t stem just from murderous dictators, but also from having journalists’ voices hushed – instead of amplified – by the civilized world they are trying to serve.”
