Putin’s Biggest Rival Alexei Navalny Dies In Prison The Life & Death Of Russian Opposition Leader

Zaheer Hussain
February 17, 2024
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The Death Of Alexei Navalny, A Vociferous Vladimir Putin Critic And Russia’s Most Prominent Opposition Figure, Has Triggered Widespread Speculation Of A Kremlin-Orchestrated Political Assassination.

Putin’s Biggest Rival Alexei Navalny Dies In Prison | The Life & Death Of Russian Opposition Leader

Why In The News?

The Death Of Alexei Navalny, A Vociferous Vladimir Putin Critic And Russia’s Most Prominent Opposition Figure, Has Triggered Widespread Speculation Of A Kremlin-Orchestrated Political Assassination.

Alexei Navalny An Anti-Corruption Crusader

Navalny, 47, Was A Lawyer Who Rose To Prominence As An Anti-Corruption Crusader In The Late 2000s. He Was Convinced Putin’s System Of Personal Rule Was Completely Reliant On Sycophancy And Corruption.
At The Forefront Of The 2011-12 Anti-Putin Demonstrations, Navalny Was Among The First To Be Arrested. Upon His Release, He Continued To Protest Against Putin, And In 2013, Ran In The Moscow Mayoral Elections.
Against All Odds, With Next To No Media Coverage And Facing Incumbent Putin-ally Sergey Sobyanin, He Garnered Over 27 Per Cent Of The Vote, But Was Subsequently Barred From Running For Public Office.

Nonetheless, Navalny Remained In Russia’s National Consciousness, In Addition To Gaining Admiration From The West. In 2013, He Launched His YouTube Channel Where He Produced Slick Videos Lampooning Putin And Exposing The Opulent Lifestyles Of Russia’s Elite.
Today, This Channel Boasts Of Over 6.2 Million Subscribers, And Has Continued To Produce Extremely Popular Anti-kremlin Content, Even After Navalny’s 2021 Arrest.

Persecuted By The Kremlin

The Kremlin Has Gone To Great Lengths To Portray Navalny As An “Extremist”, And A “CIA Puppet”.
In August 2020, Navalny Fell Ill On A Flight From Siberia To Moscow. He Survived And Was Flown To Berlin, Where He Was Treated For The Effects Of Novichok, A Neurotoxin Developed In The Soviet Union, And A Weapon Of Choice For Russian Secret Agents.

Despite The Attempt At His Life, He Returned To Russia In 2021, Where He Was Arrested On Arrival For Violating His Parole.
He Had Been In Prison Ever Since. In August 2023, He Was Handed A 19-year Sentence On Charges Ranging From Creating And Funding An Extremist Organisation And “Rehabilitating Nazism”, To “Involving A Minor To Commit Illegal Acts” (Stemming From The Fact That People Under 18 Attended Navalny’s Rallies).
Navalny, However, Maintained His Innocence, Saying That All Charges Against Him Were Fabricated To Keep Him Out Of Public Life. Amnesty International Recognised Him As A “Prisoner Of Conscience” A Term Used For The Non-violent Expression Of Their Conscientiously held Beliefs.

Sent To Arctic Prison

In December 2023, He Was Moved To The IK-3 Penal Colony, Also Known As The Polar Wolf Colony, Some 1,900 Km Northeast Of Moscow, And Inside The Arctic Circle.
One Of Russia’s Toughest Penal Colonies, “Inmates Endure Long, Dark, Cold Winters As Well As Clouds Of Mosquitoes In The Summer,”. He Also Spent More Than 280 Days In Isolation, His Spokesperson Kira Yarmash Said Last Month.

Navalny Was The Last Prominent Putin Critic Still In Russia. Others Have Either Fled The Country Or Died Under Mysterious Circumstances. In 2015, Opposition Leader Boris Nemtsov Was Shot Dead On A Moscow Bridge, A Stone’s Throw From The Kremlin.
In August 2023, Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin Died In A Plane Crash, Weeks After Leading An Armed Mutiny. Putin Heads To Polls Next Month, All But Unchallenged, As He Seeks To Extend His Reign Till 2030.

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Zaheer Hussain

Senior Lecturer General Studies, SSBCrackExams, Passionate Teacher, Masters in Public Administration, Expertise in Polity, History and Current Affairs. Loves Food and traveling Solo.