Alexei Navalny’s Death Marks End of Political Dissent in Russia

[Michie]

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s death Friday at a Russian prison camp in the Arctic silenced a man who was arguably the most influential remaining critic of President Vladimir Putin and the authoritarian state the former spy has methodically built on the wreckage of the Soviet Union.

Putin, who has effectively run Russia for 24 years and is seeking to extend his time in office for another six years in elections set for next month, now strides the Russian political stage with almost no visible challengers. Many of those who have opposed him have ended up in prison, or dead.

Since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has introduced laws to punish critics of its military campaign, muzzled independent media, branded pro-peace authors and artists as “foreign agents” and denied Russians the ability to publicly express opinions about the war.

Continued below.

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/alexei-navalnys-death-marks-end-of-political-dissent-in-russia-92cb69b9

 

[Michie]

How Catholics are commemorating the life of Navalny

In an OSV News interview, a senior Russian Catholic said fellow Catholics in Russia had long feared Navalny's end was being "brought closer" by his harsh detention conditions, which included 27 punitive spells in solitary confinement over three years. She added that some church members had...

www.oursundayvisitor.com

 

[Michie]

In Navalny’s closing statement during his 2021 trial — which was replete with pop-culture references, as was his style — the opposition leader also spoke about his faith.

“If you want, I’ll talk to you about God and salvation. I’ll turn up the volume of heartbreak to the maximum, so to speak. The fact is that I am a Christian, which usually rather sets me up as an example for constant ridicule in the Anti-Corruption Foundation, because mostly our people are atheists and I was once quite a militant atheist myself,” Navalny said, as reported by the Moscow Helsinki Group, a now-defunct Russian human-rights organization.

“But now I am a believer, and that helps me a lot in my activities, because everything becomes much, much easier. I think about things less. There are fewer dilemmas in my life, because there is a book in which, in general, it is more or less clearly written what action to take in every situation. It’s not always easy to follow this book, of course, but I am actually trying. And so, as I said, it’s easier for me, probably, than for many others, to engage in politics.”

Navalny went on to quote the Bible, specifically the beatitudes passage from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

“I’ve always thought that this particular commandment is more or less an instruction to activity,” Navalny continued.

“And so, while certainly not really enjoying the place where I am, I have no regrets about coming back, or about what I’m doing. It’s fine, because I did the right thing. On the contrary, I feel a real kind of satisfaction. Because at some difficult moment, I did as required by the instructions and did not betray the commandment.”

He added that he believes Russian authorities try to intimidate and isolate people who hold such beliefs. (According to one analysis, religion in Russia is in some ways associated with freedom, perhaps stemming from the historical religious persecution of the atheistic communist regime.)

“We are a very unhappy country. We’re in a vicious circle of unhappiness that we can’t escape from. But, of course, it would be good to, and I am therefore proposing to change our slogan. It’s not enough for Russia to be free; Russia should also be happy. Russia will be happy,” he concluded.

Though he has not commented specifically on reports of Navalny’s death, Pope Francis has repeatedly condemned the violence of Putin’s war in Ukraine and appealed for peace.

Alexei Navalny, Russian Opposition Leader and Outspoken Christian, Reportedly Dead in Prison

Navalny, 47, had been serving a 19-year sentence for alleged extremism and years of criticism of the authoritarian Putin in a harsh penal colony north of the Arctic Circle.

www.ncregister.com

 

[Michie]

Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Found Christianity Before His Death

In 2021, Navalny expressed hope that the Orthodox church in Russia could act as a mediator between the people and the state. He recognized this was unlikely; but if his demise tells us anything, it’s that moral courage in Russia’s mother church isn’t totally dead. On the contrary, we might see a res

religionunplugged.com

 

[epostle]

Yulia Navalnaya, wife of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, called on Russians to join an election day protest at noon March 17 and to vote against President Vladimir Putin or spoil their ballots.

Alexei Navalny's wife takes up his call for big Russian election day protest

In a YouTube video, Yulia Navalnaya said she had drawn hope from the crowds that turned out last week for her husband's funeral, and who since then have submerged his grave in a sea of flowers.

www.nbcnews.com

I think there will be riots.