Sakharov's widow, Yelena Bonner, dies
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Yelena Bonner, a Russian rights activist and widow of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, has died, her daughter said yesterday. She was 88. Ms Bonner died of heart failure on Saturday afternoon in Boston, said her daughter, Tatiana Yankelevich. She grew famous through her marriage to Sakharov, the Soviet Union's leading dissident, but she carved out her own reputation as a tireless human rights campaigner in the face of relentless hostility from Soviet authorities.
The couple's cramped, three-room apartment in Moscow was the unofficial headquarters of the Soviet dissident movement. Both suffered constant harassment. Officials accused Ms Bonner of being a foreign agent who bullied her husband, the father of the Soviet atomic bomb, into turning against his country.
"I hope to live out my life until the end worthy of the Russian culture in which I've spent my life," Ms Bonner wrote in her autobiography.
After Sakharov died in 1989, and the Soviet Union collapsed two years later, Ms Bonner continued to champion human rights. In recent years, she lent the weight of her voice to those opposing the leadership of Vladimir Putin.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments