Today is the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of
Ukraine. It has also been eight days
since the death of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny.
Today, too, Mr. Navalny's spokeswoman announced, in an online
statement, that Mr. Navalny's body had--finally--been released to the custody
of his mother.
Yesterday, President Biden announced some 500 sanctions against
Russia, as a result of Mr. Navalny's death, and Russia's continuing war against
Ukraine. Those sanctioned, The Washington
Post noted, included Russian individuals, companies, "and firms in other countries that supply Russia's military and
industrial production, according to a Treasury Department spokeswoman."
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said there will
also be sanctions concerning Russia's human rights abuses, within the country,
and without. One hopes the sanctions will have an effect.
And yet: in the
United States, the Republican-led House continues to delay--recklessly--sending
crucial aid to Ukraine.
Gamesmanship is not leadership. Fealty to Donald
Trump--who is besotted with Putin--is not leadership. The stakes, concerning Ukraine,
are incalculably high, worldwide, and many in the House GOP don't seem to care.
The world--teetering on its axis, while House Republicans are dormant.
Putin is strengthened by this; America's moral leadership is
deeply diminished.
And, to speak of Mr. Navalny:
he was an immensely brave man.
The day before his February 16th death, he made a court
appearance, video from which has aired on television, and can be seen online.
In the courtroom--or, in the enclosure within the courtroom--he was smiling,
laughing, making jokes to the judge.
The judge had imposed "a stream of fines" against
Mr. Navalny, an online Russia-oriented independent news site noted (a site
blocked in Russia; the publication
is now based outside of the country).
Mr. Navalny said the following, at the court hearing (I am using the
translation not from the above publication, but from the CBS News video,
below):
"Your honor, I am waiting. I will send you my personal account number,
so that you can use your huge federal judge's salary to fuel my personal account." He added: "Because I am
running out of money, and thanks to your decisions, it will run out even faster.
So send it over."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUwOYeei5MU
Mr. Navalny's cheerful-appearing demeanor, the day before he
died, was, on its own, evidence of his tremendous fortitude, and his heroism.
He had not, his manner proclaimed, been defeated--either
from the terrible (and freezing) conditions of the Russian Arctic penal colony to
which he had been sent in December, or from the punishing circumstances at the prison
where he had been previously held since 2021. During his imprisonment, he spent hundreds
of days in solitary confinement.
Mr. Navalny's death--whether due to the harsh conditions of
his incarceration (conditions imposed, certainly, by Vladimir Putin), or because of a Putin-ordered assassination--is a tragedy of great magnitude: for
the citizens of Russia, for his many supporters, and, of course, for Mr.
Navalny's courageous family. It is also a considerable tragedy for those seeking
freedom across the world.
On February 16th, the day his death was reported, Anne
Applebaum wrote the following in The Atlantic, online:
The enormous contrast between Navalny’s civic courage and the
corruption of Putin’s regime will remain. Putin is fighting a bloody, lawless,
unnecessary war, in which hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians have been
killed or wounded, for no reason other than to serve his own egotistical
vision. He is running a cowardly, micromanaged reelection campaign, one in
which all real opponents are eliminated and the only candidate who gets airtime
is himself. Instead of facing real questions or challenges, he meets tame
propagandists such as Tucker Carlson, to whom he offers nothing more than
lengthy, circular, and completely false versions of history.
Even behind bars Navalny was a
real threat to Putin, because he was living proof that courage is possible,
that truth exists, that Russia could be a different kind of country. For a
dictator who survives thanks to lies and violence, that kind of challenge was
intolerable. Now Putin will be forced to fight against Navalny’s memory, and
that is a battle he will never win.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/navalny-death-russia-prison/677485/?gift=Tcay7nmVziC9n3Jf9QllmzHT97CTYmgyJxhyNuNZ0fM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
On February 20th,
Nadya Tolokonnikova--one of the founders of the Russian music/protest/performance art
group Pussy Riot, and who was a friend of Mr. Navalny's--published an op-ed essay in The New York Times. She wrote the
following:
People say Mr. Putin feared Aleksei. But I think the reason
he wanted to get rid of Aleksei was another emotion — a darker, more sinister
one. It was envy. People loved Aleksei. With his jokes, irony, superhero-like
fearlessness and love for life, he led with charisma. People followed Aleksei
because he was the kind of person you wanted to be friends with. People follow
Mr. Putin because they fear him, but people followed Aleksei because they loved
him. Mr. Putin clearly envied this appeal. No amount of money in the world can
buy love; no amount of missiles and tanks can conquer people’s hearts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/opinion/navalny-death-putin.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YE0.37GO.CriK-ATjG56m&smid=url-share