Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and a constant irritant to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s regime for more than a decade, has died in a remote penal colony in the Arctic Circle at the age of forty-seven. The news was greeted with shock, outrage and sadness across the US and Europe and came at a time when the West’s most high-profile politicians and security figures were in Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference.
There’s no denying Navalny’s bravery. Most high-profile Russian figures who criticize Putin and live long enough to tell the tale choose to live a life in exile. Navalny, however, was never interested in that option. After completing a stint in a German hospital, where he nearly died from being poisoned, the opposition campaigner insisted on returning to Russia. He knew flying back to his country would likely get him arrested by the Russian security services — and sure enough, he was immediately taken into custody after landing at the airport. In the years, Navalny was juggling so many criminal charges (all of them trumped up) that it was difficult to see how he would ever see daylight outside the prison walls.
The reactions to Navalny’s demise were swift. “Fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built,” secretary of state Antony Blinken told reporters during meetings at the Munich Security Conference. Yuliya Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, was calm, cool and collected as she delivered remarks at the same conference, calling “on the international community, the people in this room and people everywhere that we fight and beat this evil, this terrible regime in Russia led by Vladimir Putin.” Vice President Kamala Harris uttered the usual boilerplate language about how Russia is ultimately responsible for Navalny’s untimely passing. As to what the United States would do about it, Harris was at a loss for words: “We will have more to say on this later.”
Calls for a forceful American response have flooded social media. Nearly every American politician, Democratic and Republican alike, agrees that something needs to be done to demonstrate Washington’s disgust. Yet what can the US do that would make actually much of a difference?
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