THIS is brave.

[heldinadream]

Apologies for posting this in AIBU, but I just wanted as many people as possible to know that ordinary Russian people are risking their lives and their freedom to leave flowers for Alexei Navalny.
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Thank you for highlighting this

I know quite a few Russians, in their twenties to fifties, who have risked everything to get out of Russia following on from the invasion. Moved through different countries to a target country where they jump through as many hoops as necessary to settle legally.

I may not have agreed with all of Navalny's politics. But I am able to hold immense respect for a man who was the epitome of brave, principled, strong, and revolutionary. His death is a tragedy. My heart goes out to his family. And to the many Russians living under such a brutal regime.

Thanks both.
I suppose my greatest hope today is that the West is now shocked into stepping up further and we stop relying on Zelenskyy and Ukraine to fight on our behalf, just because they are where they are.

Well done them. The change that is needed is only going to come from the inside.

Yes that's true but we can give the maximum possible support from outside, and keep it in the public eye that there really is opposition in Russia, along with a lot of very scared people who may not be in a position to actively oppose but are aware of the truth.

Vigil outside Russian embassy in Berlin.

Navalny was a horrid racist. He made videos calling immigrants and Muslims cockroaches and declared he'd like to deport all non white immigrants.

Hermit, and what do you think of Putin?

OP, what do you think Western governments could do? I hear lots of bluster and ‘consequences’, but I don’t see that western governments actually have any power here beyond supporting Ukraine

Fast track Ukraine's NATO membership and get squarely behind them instead of prevaricating and holding back. Personally I think that we owe them this level of support and that Putin is like Hitler and should be stood up to with no expectation that any form of 'appeasement' or negotiation is possible.

I was just reading an article on him

I’m amazed at how brave he was too

I think Putin is also a horrible individual and hope he's ousted from power by a good, nonracist person/people.

What about Julian Assange?