To feel very sad after Alexei Navalny’s death?

[Acapulco12]

It was horrible to hear on the news the other day that Alexei Navalny had died.

I didn’t know much about him before the news a couple of years ago that he’d been poisoned by the Russian government and had then recovered after being treated in Germany.

Since his death, I’ve been reading about him in the news, and he sounds so principled and full of integrity. His wife does as well. Some of the articles have said that he held views they describe as xenophobic and pro-Russian - e.g. he thought that Crimea was Russian rather than Ukrainian territory. The vast majority of articles focus on how morally courageous he was though, and I think it’s absolutely right to keep this as the focus. I’ve been so impressed at his bravery. I would never be able to be as brave as that in the sort of circumstances he has faced.

The news of his death has been really shocking, because I do think it’s a tragedy for Russian politics and the future of Russia. However, I know it’s not shocking in the sense that it was ‘expected’, in a way - as horrific as that sounds. We all know how brutal the Russian government is, and killing a member of their opposition is part of their MO.

Putin is dreadful but I do wonder almost if it's better the Devil you know with him. When he's eventually succeeded we obviously hope they begin a path to 'westernise' and democratise but with Putin's influence over his successor I could easily seeing it going the other way. At least we know Putin doesn't have a death wish and cares too much about his legacy to actually start a nuclear war. We definitely don't want a Kim Jong Un on the boarder of Europe.

I see what you mean and do agree with you. I just see lots of obstacles and challenges in the path of anyone who wants to either challenge or succeed Putin. It’s such a complicated situation, isn’t it.

First of all, Russia is such a big country with such a large and diverse population and so many different cultures and beliefs that it will need very careful leadership by someone who truly understands and cares about the country.

It also has a very different culture to the one we know, which makes things difficult in terms of us applying our standards onto its culture and governance (as lots of people have mentioned on this thread).

People like Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza (who is in prison in Russia at the moment) have spent years preparing themselves for the prospect of leadership, but each time they have tried to put themselves forward, they have been denied that opportunity by Putin. I strongly feel that we need someone like them putting themselves forward to lead Russia once Putin is no longer able to, but it’s so difficult to find someone like that because anyone in that position is spied on, jailed and often killed by Putin to eradicate any viable opposition.

The long and short of this, really, is that I’m not sure we’ll ever see a democratic and free Russia, like the one Navalny had hoped for.

Having said all of that, I’m just watching this and it offers us a glimmer of hope ❤️🌺https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJBkRW60qHc

I actually really want to know if we can do anything helpful/progressive after Navalny’s death, to not feel as it if was in vain (I’m sorry - that sounds horrible).

I know his family and his colleagues have vowed to continue the work he started, in his name. I have lots of hope for the future because of them.

I’m British and based in the UK and I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do in particular, especially as I don’t speak Russian.

I have emailed my MP though, to ask them to ask the government if they can put pressure on the Russian government to release its political prisoners (e.g. Vladimir Kara-Murza), to allow people in Russia to pay their respects to Alexei Navalny without fear of imprisonment and to see if there’s a way that the British government can recognise Alexei Navalny for the work he did.

i just don’t want to stand by and do nothing, but I’m not sure at all what I can do.

What a strange thing to say.

Good idea to write to your MP. Would be great to know if anyone has any other thoughts or ideas on what to do/how to help as writing to my MP is the main idea I can think of for now.

Interestingly, I’ve just been listening to Mark Galeotti’s podcast In Russia’s Shadows and it’s about this topic: what we can do to put pressure on the Kremlin for Navalny’s death.

The podcast series is excellent and, incidentally, was recommended as a good resource on Russia by someone on here.

I listened to the Mark Galeotti podcast on the weekend after a friend recommended it and it was very good. I love his podcasts - very informative and in-depth, with very accessible language. I’ve found them a very helpful way of learning about what’s happening in Russia, alongside other resources too.