“Murder is the only way he knows how to fight. He’ll go down in history as nothing but a poisoner. We all know Aleksandr the Liberator… Well now we’ll have Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner.”
That, of course, was Alexei Navalny this week after being sentenced to 32 months in prison, displaying the acerbic and laconic wit that has long been his trademark.
And after the sentencing, thousands of Russians again took to the streets, where they were met with a harsh crackdown by police and security services.
Vladimir Putin’s regime and Navalny’s supporters are both upping the ante in what is shaping up to be a long and decisive showdown between the Kremlin and Russia’s emerging civil society.
So hold on to your hats. This promises to be a wild ride.
The Power Vertical Podcast is produced by the Charles T. McDowell Center for Global Studies at The University of Texas at Arlington and the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
