Putin Rival Alexei Navalny Dies in Siberian Prison
Robyn Dixon, David M. Herszenhorn, and Catherine Belton, reporting for The Washington Post:
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the defiant
anti-corruption crusader and democracy champion who was President
Vladimir Putin’s despised nemesis, died suddenly in an Arctic
Russian prison colony on Friday, penitentiary officials said,
removing the most prominent figure inside Russia willing to
challenge the Kremlin’s rule.
Referring to Navalny as Putin’s “nemesis” — which description the Post also uses in its headline — whitewashes just how despicable his attempted assassination, yearslong imprisonment, and now (presumed) actual assassination were. It’s a dysphemism — the opposite of a euphemism. Navalny was a political rival and staunch proponent of democracy. Putin was Navalny’s nemesis, but not the other way around.
His death — foretold as almost inevitable, including by
Navalny himself — sent shock waves across Russia and was
quickly condemned by global leaders, some of whom joined
Russian opposition figures in calling it a state-sponsored
murder. Navalny, 47, had appeared a court hearing by video link
the day before, seemingly in good health and with his trademark
humor intact.
Navalny’s family and his team, who continued to run his political
operation in exile, had warned that his life was in danger since
his arrest in January 2021, when he returned to Russia after
recovering in Germany from being poisoned with a banned
nerve agent. An investigation led by Navalny and Bellingcat, an
investigative journalism organization, had identified a team of
Russian federal security agents as responsible for the
assassination attempt, and his supporters noted that in prison he
was in the clutches of the very government that had already tried
to kill him several times.
Until 2017, Navalny’s death would have been met with bipartisan, near-universal condemnation here in the United States. No more. But it shouldn’t be surprising that a political party that has turned against fair democratic elections — a party whose undisputed leader has, just weeks ago, argued in court that the president of the United States could not be prosecuted in court for ordering the assassination of his political rivals — sees Vladimir Putin’s Russia as a model to follow, not an enemy to defeat.
Nearly 250 years after the founding of our nation, genuine democracy remains a radical — and alas, fragile — idea.
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Robyn Dixon, David M. Herszenhorn, and Catherine Belton, reporting for The Washington Post:
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the defiant
anti-corruption crusader and democracy champion who was President
Vladimir Putin’s despised nemesis, died suddenly in an Arctic
Russian prison colony on Friday, penitentiary officials said,
removing the most prominent figure inside Russia willing to
challenge the Kremlin’s rule.
Referring to Navalny as Putin’s “nemesis” — which description the Post also uses in its headline — whitewashes just how despicable his attempted assassination, yearslong imprisonment, and now (presumed) actual assassination were. It’s a dysphemism — the opposite of a euphemism. Navalny was a political rival and staunch proponent of democracy. Putin was Navalny’s nemesis, but not the other way around.
His death — foretold as almost inevitable, including by
Navalny himself — sent shock waves across Russia and was
quickly condemned by global leaders, some of whom joined
Russian opposition figures in calling it a state-sponsored
murder. Navalny, 47, had appeared a court hearing by video link
the day before, seemingly in good health and with his trademark
humor intact.
Navalny’s family and his team, who continued to run his political
operation in exile, had warned that his life was in danger since
his arrest in January 2021, when he returned to Russia after
recovering in Germany from being poisoned with a banned
nerve agent. An investigation led by Navalny and Bellingcat, an
investigative journalism organization, had identified a team of
Russian federal security agents as responsible for the
assassination attempt, and his supporters noted that in prison he
was in the clutches of the very government that had already tried
to kill him several times.
Until 2017, Navalny’s death would have been met with bipartisan, near-universal condemnation here in the United States. No more. But it shouldn’t be surprising that a political party that has turned against fair democratic elections — a party whose undisputed leader has, just weeks ago, argued in court that the president of the United States could not be prosecuted in court for ordering the assassination of his political rivals — sees Vladimir Putin’s Russia as a model to follow, not an enemy to defeat.
Nearly 250 years after the founding of our nation, genuine democracy remains a radical — and alas, fragile — idea.