Navalny’s friends knew he was willing to become a martyr if that’s what it took to stand up to Putin.
Alexei Navalny’s long struggle against President Putin began with a humorous blog and culminated in repeated demonstrations of his willingness to risk his own life. According to the Russian authorities on Friday, he has now died in prison.
Russia’s leading opposition voice has been silenced.
Other dissident figures went into exile or died in mysterious circumstances over the past decade, leaving Navalny as the last national figure with a dedicated following.
Though he had been arrested many times before, Navalny’s defining moment in the eyes of many Russians came after the attempt to assassinate him with Novichok. He recuperated in the sanctuary of a German hospital but chose to defy Putin and return to Russia in January 2021, knowing full well he would end up in prison.
Well, that was the situation after the dissolution of USSR. Makes sense preserving it.
Where did you get that?
In Russian-speaking Web the only relatively recent quote by him people accusing him can find is “Crimea is not a sandwich to be given or taken”. Especially Ukrainians clutch to that to the end.
Well, see, Crimea is really not a sandwich, it’s a piece of land inhabited by people, and yes, a real referendum is more important than Ukrainian laws.
I was disgusted by that “referendum” because it was fake, while many Ukrainians on the Web because they are against referendums they don’t like. Well, too bad.