Alexei Navalny is the first opposition politician since the collapse of the Soviet Union to mobilise a powerful opposition movement that draws together many strands of society
ALEXEI NAVALNY, Russia’s opposition leader, has become the biggest thorn in Vladimir Putin’s flesh. Last year Russian security forces tried and failed to kill him by poisoning him with a nerve agent. The authorities then arrested him in Moscow in January. On June 9th—just days ahead of Mr Putin’s summit with President Joe Biden—a court banned groups affiliated with Mr Navalny, ruling that they are “extremist organisations”.
Though Mr Navalny has never been allowed to run for president—the Kremlin has barred him from standing and has banned his party—his activism and his fight against corruption have attracted millions of supporters. Mr Navalny has done this in part through canny use of social media , where he mocks the Kremlin and exposes its failings.
Mr Putin’s sole preoccupation is his own survival. The Kremlin’s fear of Mr Navalny spearheading a mass protest movement, of the kind that broke out in neighbouring Belarus last year, has driven the Kremlin to more extreme action, such as the attempt to neutralise Mr Navalny by poisoning him with a nerve agent in August 2020. Mr Navalny survived the attack and was evacuated to Germany for treatment, where Mr Putin probably hoped he would stay and be forgotten.
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