ES, Vienna, April 27, 2021
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 44, finally gave up his nearly three-week-long hunger strike, announcing with characteristic wit that “Well – I’ll be frank – their (my doctors’) words about the tests showing ‘there will be no one to treat in a minimum of time’… mmm.. It seems to me worthy of consideration.”
But the world-famous journalist-politician will eat his first meals against the backdrop of an ever-more ruthless crackdown by Vladimir Putin on Navalny’s Russia-wide anti-corruption foundation, one above all supported by a younger generation. The news of mass-arrests and deportations spread all round the world today, as did the fears of Navalny’s supporters.
The most recent TRV news from CBS https://www.cbsnews.com/video/
The London Economist www.economist.com had a sobering reflection on what the events in Russia and Ukraine now mean: “Vladimir Putin fears his prisoner. Alexei Navalny may be physically weak: after most of a month on hunger strike…yet he is still Russia’s most effective opposition leader. His jocular, matter-of-fact videos resonate with voters. One, a guided tour of a gaudy palace that Mr Putin denies owning, has been viewed more than 116m times.
“Mr Navalny has built a movement by mocking the Kremlin’s lies, and challenges Mr Putin’s party at elections. That is why he was poisoned last year, and then jailed on bogus charges. It is why his organisation has been branded “extremist” and is being ruthlessly shut down. It may also explain why Mr Putin, eager to change the subject and fire up patriotic Russian supporters, is once again menacing the neighbours.”
LINKS:
Excellent Economist video “What will the West do now?” https://youtu.be/malP3YPxge8
Navalny Twitter account: https://twitter.com/navalny?
Navalny Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/
Putin warning to West https://www.dw.com/en/
FT interview with Putin 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?