Navalny and Russia: Boiling point?

On Wednesday, February 10 at 19:30 GMT:
Thousands of people poured into streets across Russia last month to protest the jailing of the Kremlin’s most prominent critic, Alexey Navalny, who went to prison declaring he had been targeted because President Vladimir Putin feared him.

The anti-corruption campaigner was sentenced to three-and-a-half years but will serve just over two-and-half given time served under house arrest. Navalny was arrested after returning from Germany, where he was recovering from being poisoned by a nerve agent he says was administered by Russian state security agents. The Kremlin denies that.

World leaders have now stepped up pressure on Russian authorities over the case, threatening sanctions. US President Joe Biden said Navalny had been “targeted for exposing corruption and should be released immediately and without condition.” German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass called the sentencing “a bitter blow against fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in Russia.”

We discuss the potential endgame of Russia’s long-running battle with Alexei Navalny and ask how far the international community is willing to intervene.

In this episode of The Stream, we are joined by:
Alexis Lerner, @PostSovietGraf
Postdoctoral scholar of authoritarianism and Russia
alexislerner.com

Paul Robinson
Professor Public & International Affairs, University of Ottawa
uniweb.uottawa.ca

Roman Dobrokhotov, @Dobrokhotov
Editor-in-Chief, The Insider
theins.ru/entv