Navalny’s Homecoming
This podcast was originally published on January 15, 2021.
Five months after surviving an assassination attempt, Alexei Navalny says he’s finally coming home this weekend. And he is doing so at a very perilous moment when Vladimir Putin is taking off the gloves.
Navaly is returning home at a time when Putin’s regime has filed new trumped-up criminal charges against him.
He is returning home at a time when the Kremlin is waging a fresh crackdown on dissent, with new restrictions and repressions aimed at street demonstrations, free expression online, and foreign media.
But Navalny’s homecoming also comes when Putin’s popularity is at an all-time low and popular discontent at an all-time high.
And, by the way, Russia is already gearing up for parliamentary elections this year.
The battle lines are being drawn. So hold onto your hats, this should be a wild ride.
Photo: “Russian march on the day of national unity in the Moscow district of Lublino.” November 2011.
Navalny vs. Putin
This podcast was originally published on January 22, 2021.
So Alexei Navalny is back in Russia, and back in jail.
But he is far from silent. In fact, if Vladimir Putin has decided to take the gloves off with Navalny, the wily opposition leader and anti-corruption crusader appears to be returning the favor.
Just days after being arrested upon arrival, Navalny’s supporters released an entertaining two-hour video he produced accusing Putin of using fraudulently obtained funds to build an opulent billion-dollar estate on the Black Sea coast.
The video garnered nearly 60 million views and counting, including one million in the first hour it was posted to YouTube.
The latest chapter in Navalny’s battle against the Putin regime is underway.
So what happens next?
The Navalny Phenomenon
This podcast was originally published on February 5, 2021.
“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.
