comments expresses the writer’s opinions.
Opposition politician Alexei Navalny has died in a Russian prison. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, because that’s what everyone assumed would happen when he returned to Russia in 2021 after surviving an assassination attempt by the Russian regime.
It was obviously brave of him to go back and he must have been well aware of the risks. As I wrote about the assassination of Prigozhins, the probability of dying when you challenge Putin is about one to one.
It is therefore appropriate that we honor the sacrifice Navalny has made to offer the Russians an opposition and to condemn the murder committed by an increasingly totalitarian dictatorship.
Jørn Sund-Henriksen
Jørn Sund-Henriksen was an election observer in Kyiv during the Orange Revolution in 2004 and has served in the Coast Guard Command. He has engaged in independent intelligence (OSINT) for over 10 years in several conflicts and is a leader in the Norwegian-Ukrainian Friends Association. His contributions are based on open-source research, and are thus an accumulation and analysis of currently available information, with the dangers of wrong sources it entails.
At the same time, it is important to have a measured relationship with who Navalny was. He was by no means just a liberal peace-loving democrat. In any case, if we are to take his statements seriously. He will be remembered with disdain in Ukraine, since he supported Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Krym peninsula in 2014. Although he later reversed himself on that issue.
Navalny also has a past with a number of explicitly racist statements about various minorities in Russia and made classical nationalist/imperialist positions. In this way, he has appeared as a classic Russian politician.
This can help us understand the political elite in Russia, of which Navalny was obviously a part.
Also read: Navalny’s allies say he was most likely killed
Navalny primarily became a well-known opposition figure because he dared to challenge Putin. Not because he faced a dramatic political break with Putin or Russian tradition.
A narrative has formed that the war in Ukraine is “Putin’s war” and that we can put all and full responsibility on the mad man in Moscow. Putin, as Russia’s dictator, has of course been decisive in the war, but the invasion also fits well into Russia’s history with regard to smaller neighboring countries.
Many of Navalny’s positions throughout his career also fit into this Russian tradition.
Here you can read more by Jørn Sund-Henriksen
Despite his faults, Navalny’s death is undoubtedly a loss for Russia. He was one of the last major real political alternatives to Putin. He became famous by exposing systemic corruption and he led an opposition that fought for democratic reforms and institutions. Regardless of which policy he stood for, the key thing is that he championed democratic ideals. He was even willing to die for these ideals.
What will happen in the future is now uncertain. Although it is obvious that his death was desired by Putin, it is uncertain whether the timing was planned. Did he die as a result of continuously failing health or did something more concrete happen today, like the time he was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020?
Read also: Biden on Navalny’s alleged death: – A victim of Putin
It may well be that Putin wanted to send a signal to his opponents before the elections in March. At the same time, he may have miscalculated and created a martyr at a time when many are considering what they think of a new presidential term with Putin. That, combined with thousands of dead Russian soldiers every single week in Ukraine, can create an unstable situation for Putin.
The next presidential candidate to die in a Russian prison is probably Igor Girkin. Unlike Navalny, there is no ambiguity around him. He is a thoroughly terrible human being, who has been involved in most of the war crimes that have happened in Europe in the last 30 years. Both in the Balkans, in Chechnya, Moldova, Georgia and of course Ukraine.
He is best known for being partly responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine in 2014. You think that is perhaps why he is in prison? No, he is in prison because he actually really believes in Putin’s project.
Girkin is an ideologue. Therefore, he is also a threat to Putin and his regime. He does not allow himself to be corrupted and criticizes corruption and incompetence in the regime. Therefore, he will probably follow in Navalny’s footsteps. All opposition to Putin is cracked down on. Regardless of what they stand for.
Navalny’s murder was expected and should be a reminder to everyone of what Russia has become. A totalitarian dictatorship where the opposition is killed. Navalny is only the latest and most famous example.
The number of journalists, business leaders and others with influence who have been killed in Russia in the last 24 years must not be forgotten. They must be remembered for what they have sacrificed. And they must be remembered so that every day we remember who Putin is. A murderer.
2024-02-16 20:19:30
#Putin #killed #biggest #challenger
