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.

    • Iceman@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      10 months ago

      Him being the opposition was apparently good enough. Never mind that he was a Russian nationalist that definitely supports the annexation of Ukraine and the ethnic cleansing of Caucasians. A real meat old boss, same as old boss situation.

      • uis@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        10 months ago

        Under what rock did you live for last 10 years? This doesn’t look like support.

        • Arcity 🇵🇸🇺🇦@feddit.nl
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          10 months ago

          "The oppositionist added that if Crimea is annexed, the Russian economy will weaken, and this, in turn, may lead to the desire of some subjects of the Federation to secede from the country. " - your source Ah yes, what a sweetheart. He doesn’t think it is good to annex Crimea. Yet he wants to continue using the Black Sea and I assume the military bases in Crimea and use it to keep Ukraine out of NATO. So same goal as Putin, just thinks annexing was a mistake strategically not morally.

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            10 months ago

            Yet he wants to continue using the Black Sea and I assume the military bases in Crimea

            Well, that was the situation after the dissolution of USSR. Makes sense preserving it.

            and use it to keep Ukraine out of NATO

            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.

      • Arcity 🇵🇸🇺🇦@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        10 months ago

        Finally a sane take. The enemy of your enemy is not your friend. I hate how western media is whitewashing the likes of Kissinger and Navalny.

      • Iceman@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        10 months ago

        Call me a cynic, but that just screams “I am in Russian prison, my hopes for a Russian uprising uprising didn’t happen and my only hope is appeasing the west”. No world leaders have made such drastic changes in ideology over merely a decade.