As of right now, Alexei Navalny — an anti-corruption activist and Russia’s opposition’s leader — seems to be the greatest challenger against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny began his anti-corruption campaign in 2008 when he spoke up about the corruption in his home country of Russia. His videos online have reached millions of views.
In fact, one of his most popular videos exposed “Putin’s Palace” –– a luxurious estate near the Black Sea that costs about $1.37 billion and that was allegedly bought by Putin’s rich associates with bribe money — reached more than 114 million views on YouTube.
Not only has Navalny been successful in exposing corrupt officials and state-controlled corporations through an online platform, but he has also been persistent in overthrowing Putin and the Russian government.
Other opposition activists withdrew, left the country, were arrested or were killed. Navalny, however, could never be silenced, making him the face of the opposition movement.
When Navalny was in Siberia last year, he shared a video on YouTube a few weeks before the local and regional elections. In the campaign video, he urged the people to vote out United Russia –– a political party led by Putin.
What happened next set off a chain of events that revealed the foul and corrupt actions of the Kremlin.
After his campaign in Siberia, Navalny was on a plane bound for Moscow when he collapsed from Novichok poisoning. The military-grade nerve agent that the Soviet Union developed in the ’70s and ’80s had been smeared on his underwear.
Luckily, an emergency detour to a hospital in Omsk, Russia managed to save his life and Navalny survived. His survival was, in part, because of his recovery in Germany. Navalny’s team moved him to Germany because they were skeptical and believed Russian hospitals were not giving him enough care.
During his recovery there, Navalny worked with journalists in a joint CNN-Bellingcat investigation to uncover what had happened to him.
First, it was discovered that a Russian Federal Security Service unit had followed Navalny’s team during his campaign in Siberia. The FSB unit has also followed Navalny on at least 30 of his trips to and from Moscow over the course of three years.
Despite being on Russia’s federal wanted list and being poisoned, Navalny still vowed to return to his home country. Even after Russian authorities gave the threat of arrest, he was confident that an arrest would be “impossible.”
But Navalny was wrong. His arrest was not impossible. A powerful video from The Telegraph shows Navalny immediately detained in Russia upon arrival.
Tensions between the Kremlin and the opposition party due to the preceding events have resulted in mass rallies and nationwide protests in Russia.
It has even prompted world leaders to express their opinions. U.S. President Joe Biden questioned Putin’s motives in his first presidential call with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron described Navalny’s situation as an “assasination attempt” and foreign ministers of the G7 summit condemned Navalny’s detention and arrest.
I’m not an expert on Russian politics, news or domestic affairs. But when I first read about Navalny’s incident in 2020, I was immediately shocked that the government had attempted to assassinate someone who had spoken up against the Kremlin and fought for what he believed in.
And it’s not only Navalny’s life that’s at stake. Even Navalny’s associates and close allies have been cracked down and arrested, with some facing criminal charges.
What is democracy if people are threatened for resisting an institution that is flawed?
In the words of Albert Einstein, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
Navalny did something. He revealed and outed the Kremlin’s corrupt system and, as a result, was arrested and nearly assassinated. Of course, Putin has denied all allegations that accused him of being behind Navalny’s near-death experience. The Russian president said that had Russian agents wanted to kill Navalny, “they would have probably finished the job.”
Instead, the Russian government did exactly the opposite. The incident of the failed assasination attempt turned Navalny into an international hero. If the Kremlin’s goal is to silence the opposition, it seems like putting Navalny in jail has exacerbated the problem: Thousands of protesters currently demand for his release, threatening Putin’s power and reminding him that, someday, he might have to face Navalny in the parliament elections.
