Alexei Navalny, the main critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has just been arrested on his return to Moscow – five months after he almost died in what would have been a poisoned attack directed by the government.
Navalny fell ill at a Siberian airport before boarding a flight to Moscow last August. His team did not believe that Russian hospitals were giving him adequate care or doing enough to find out what happened to him, so, with the help of a Berlin-based humanitarian group, they moved Navalny to Germany to recover. A top chemical weapons watchdog confirmed last October that Navalny was poisoned with novichok, a deadly nervous agent that the Russian government often uses in political dissidents.
Navalny stayed in Germany for months, working with journalists to find out what happened to him, while always promising to return to Russia. A report by CNN and Bellingcat clearly implies the Russian government for almost killing Navalny, and appears to involve Putin in the poisoning, since such an operation would almost certainly require Putin’s approval. And in YouTube videos viewed more than 40 million times, Navalny directly accused the Kremlin of trying to kill him.
Since then, the Putin government has done everything it can to dissuade Navalny from returning home.
At the end of last year, Russia placed him on his federal wanted list, claiming that he avoided inspectors abroad. As part of a parole sentence in a 2014 embezzlement case, Navalny had to check on these federal authorities regularly. Navalny says the charges of embezzlement are politically motivated.
Even with the threat of arrest hanging over him, Navalny flew to Moscow on Sunday, minimizing widespread fear that he would be stopped on arrival. “It’s impossible”, He told people on board his flight, despite Russian authorities saying he would be arrested. “I feel like a citizen of Russia who has every right to return to my home.”
It was not impossible: Video shows an officer – it is unclear from which security service – approaching Navalny at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport (he was scheduled to arrive at another airport, but his flight was diverted unexpectedly) near passport control. Navalny then kisses his wife, Yulia, before going with the officer and other guards.
Navalny’s lawyer was not allowed to accompany him because he apparently passed customs. The country federal prison service he now says that Navalny will be detained pending a hearing for the alleged violation of his probation.
This kind of thing is nothing new for Navalny. As mentioned, he was arrested before – and even poisoned before – so it is possible that he will eventually be released and return to leading Russia’s anti-Putin movement. Sometimes, the Kremlin just wants to remind Navalny who’s in charge and slow down his work in a way that tries to maintain the illusion of Russian democracy.
But it is also possible that Putin has it, especially as he seeks to remain in power for the rest of his life. Removing his main political enemy would certainly make such a ploy easier, although it may attract condemnation from other nations, including the United States recently led by President-elect Joe Biden.
Hours after the arrest of Navalny, new National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted a statement condemning the arrest of the Putin critic. “Sir. Navalny must be released immediately and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held responsible,” he wrote.
If Navalny’s team is concerned, they are not publicly raising their concerns. “He is not afraid. I am also not afraid, and I ask all of you not to be afraid, ” Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s wife, told supporters outside the airport.