Current Affairs

Alexei Navalny, found his poisoner, he confronted him and questioned his technique. It was just a few drops of a Novichok type of substance on his underpants that led to him being put into a coma. A flight to Germany, a three week coma and waking up in another country was the price of life. But the extraordinary does not stop there, he went back to Russia and was immediately arrested on his arrival. He kissed his wife goodbye and left a video in the vault that explained that in the case of his death, Russia would finally be rid of the cabal that ruled with ruthless efficiency.

Russia is never going to be the same without Navalny, it will continue to haemorrhage its youth in the meat grinder that is Ukraine and those that sit in the Duma will continue to pay lip service to the Kremlin, but there will be a voice missing and the extraordinary adventures of Navalny will gently take the space in a graveyard among those that had the courage to challenge Putin, the Kremlin and the Police state.

Russian opposition politician Gennadiy Gudkov said “ He (Navalny) was intentionally being killed. It was a public execution, and the organizer of this execution, Putin, is personally responsible.” Gudkov said that Navalny was killed by “being held in inhumane conditions”, [and] his body couldn’t survive such a long, terrible and harsh torture.”

Long term Kremlin and Putin critic, Bill Browder said “Let’s make no mistake, Putin assassinated Navalny.” […] “He did so because Navalny was brave enough to stand up to Putin. He did so because Navalny offered the Russian people an alternative to the kleptocracy and repression.”

Of course Navalny laughed at the Kremlin, the golden loo brush, the fly over of the palatial palaces by drones and the exposure of the corruption of those in the pocket of the Kremlin, then there is the official and the prostitute and the ridiculous kleptocracy of Medeivev.

But there was also a more serious side and that was his determination to challenge the state. Navalny was renowned for his outspokeness and ability to communicate with the people. Without media attention and without airtime, Navalny managed to stand in the election for mayor of Moscow, he polled thirty five percent before being banned from the election by the electoral authority. But it is business as usual for Navalny that most stands out, if there is not one answer, then the problem has to be elsewhere, so Navalny with his customary bravery would go onto the next argument that he would manufacture out of thin air and expose those who had never been challenged.

But the time Navalny had was precious and in August 2023, a Russian court sentenced Navalny to 19 years in a maximum security prison on extremism charges for creating an anti-corruption foundation, a peaceful civic watchdog. This was payback for the golden loo brush, the flyover of Putin’s palaces, the exposure of Medviev’s corruption and most of all challenging the Kremlin. It was also a fear among Putin and his cronies of the outcome of the election that is coming next month. According to the independent media outlet Verstka, the verdict given Navalny meant that he would not have been released until 2047.

There were also sides to Navalny that were not so pleasant, he supported the invasion of Georgia and joined a right wing party, but the reality was that Navalny was a liberal, whatever the definition you put on it. His parents lived in Ukraine and he opposed the war vehemently, making it part of his defence when he was being sentenced. Never pragmatic, he refused to kow-tow to the brokers who used corruption as a tool.

But Nevalny had the last joke at the expense of the state as he was given his final nineteen year sentence. Looking thin with his head shaven, Navalny made jokes about the regimes reaction to the ‘nearly naked party’ held by the wealthy. The rich and famous party goers had been criticised for the party when so many were in the meat grinder that is Ukraine.

“Did you have a party?” Navalny asked the prison officers during the court video conference.“ You probably had a naked party,” he suggested. Even the judge laughed. Irrepressible, Navalny probably went to his grave knowing that Putin was watching and despite everything that Putin had done to Navalny, he was still laughing, joking and being something Putin could never be – human.