Zürcher Nachrichten - Exiled Kremlin critic on fighting Putin -- and cancer -- from abroad

Forced to flee when Russia ramped up its persecution of opposition figures after invading Ukraine, she now faces her toughest battle yet: stage three cancer.

The disease has left her exhausted, but no less committed to fighting Russian President Vladimir Putin's government -- even if she has to do both from outside her homeland.

Pirogova's fate is just one part of the story of how Russia's opposition is battling to survive, stay relevant and challenge Putin amid the war in Ukraine.

Monday marks two years since Navalny's death in an Arctic prison colony. This weekend, several European countries announced -- after testing his body samples -- that Navalny was poisoned with a rare toxin.

In his absence, the Russian opposition has been plagued by factional infighting and scandal, while Putin has intensified a decades-long crackdown on dissent.

But Pirogova is determined.

- 'Be strong' -

"I've always had this mentality that 'You need to be strong, you have to cope with everything,'" the 37-year-old told AFP from Lithuania, where she now lives.

Then the diagnosis gave her a "reason that I don't have to be strong".

In September 2020, she and three other opposition activists won city council seats in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, helping overturn the ruling party's majority on the council.

It was an exceptional feat, even before Navalny's opposition movement was banned in 2021.

In March 2022, weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, Pirogova attended a meeting wearing a blue shirt and a crown made of sunflowers in a show of support for the Ukrainian people.

In July that year, she fled Russia with her husband while pregnant.

The authorities had threatened to imprison her over a scathing social media post in which she said she wanted to give slain Russian soldiers a "good slap on the face and send them back to their graves".

She later deleted the post, saying it was "overly emotional" and misunderstood.

- 'Just one person' -

Having taken refuge in Vilnius, she gave birth to a daughter and now works for the Anti-Corruption Foundation, an organisation founded by Navalny that investigates alleged wrongdoing among Russia's elites.

In January 2025, a doctor told Pirogova she had stage four terminal cervical cancer.

"She just casually said, 'Well, what would you like us to do? You have stage four'. They can't do anything for you anymore."

But the doctors were mistaken.

Three weeks later, she learnt she actually had stage three cancer with limited metastases.

Then came intensive treatment: chemotherapy, radiotherapy.

Pirogova documents her treatment on Instagram, posting videos that she once jokingly called "the diary of a vampire".

"Everything hurts and you have no strength," she says in one.

"Nuts are the best. I'm like a squirrel, basically gnawing on lots of nuts," she says in another.

Her first round of chemo and radiotherapy is over, although she is still living with the disease.

She is now undergoing targeted immunotherapy that directly attacks cancer cells, a rare treatment funded by 65,000 euros ($77,000) in donations from supporters.

"At some point, you realise that you are just one person. And you don't deal with cancer alone, you need outside support," she said.

Fighting cancer -- like fighting Putin -- requires help, she added.

- 'Afraid and curious' -

Her work helps her get through the illness.

On the day AFP spoke with her, she made it to her office, despite bitterly cold weather outside.

She was an amateur dancer before her diagnosis, and said she hoped to get back to it afterwards.

She has also kept up her activism.

Declared a "foreign agent" by Moscow -- a label Russian authorities often levy against Putin critics -- she is effectively banned from activism and public office in Russia.

But she says a "new generation" who are willing to speak out on local issues gives her hope.

Her team's mission now, she says, is to sever as many of the Kremlin's "tentacles" as possible.

One of her personal goals? Living longer than 73-year-old Putin.

"A monstrous amount of corruption has permeated all authorities that currently exist," she said.

"I am both afraid and curious about how to combat this once Putin is gone."

R.Schmid--NZN