Navalny in a penal camp in court, could receive an additional ten years in prison

Russia correspondent Geert Groot Koerkamp:

The new trial against Alexeï Navalny is said to be “public”, but takes place within the walls of the penal colony of the province of Vladimir. This perfectly illustrates how deeply concerned the Russian authorities are about the leader of the opposition. Silence has been the motto for many years, better than anything exemplified by President Vladimir Putin himself, who miraculously always avoids saying his rival’s name out loud, even when asked directly.

Navalny is unquestionably the only true leader of the opposition that Russia now knows. Russian state media downplays his political caliber and invariably describes him as a “blogger” with a smirk. But Navalny has done things that no other opposition politician in Russia has been able to do. He won almost a third of the votes in the Moscow municipal elections in 2013. He built a network of organizations throughout Russia, with the help of which he managed to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people Many times.

Navalny has produced numerous films exposing corruption that have been viewed millions of times, and in the case of his latest film “Putin’s Palace”, more than 200 million times. All of this makes him a formidable political opponent and an unpredictable factor at a time when the president’s popularity is waning and well into the next presidential election in 2024, when Putin is expected to run for another term.

Navalny’s organization has now been banned because “extremist” speaks volumes. So did the failed attempt to poison him, and the persecution not only of Navalny himself, but also of many of his allies who failed to flee the country in time.