Alexei Navalny mobilises free spirits

If Vladimir Putin believed sending Alexei Navalny back to jail would silence his most prominent critic, he got an unequivocal rebuke in the mass street protests seen in more than 100 cities across Russia on the weekend. Responding to a call from Mr Navalny in his prison cell, more than 300,000 demonstrators — from Moscow to St Petersburg (significantly Mr Putin’s home town) to Vladivostok — braved freezing temperatures, the risk of COVID-19 and threats of incarceration by thuggish security forces. The size and spread of the protests have been described as “unprecedented” during the former KGB colonel’s 21 years in power. They will add to the pressure on Mr Putin as polls show a decline in his popularity and growing public anger over yet more allegations of gross corruption.

Last August, Mr Navalny, 44, was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, allegedly on Mr Putin’s orders, and he was evacuated to Germany. Showing immense courage, Mr Navalny returned to Moscow on January 17. He was immediately imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Most would have understood it if, having survived the assassination attempt, Mr Navalny chose to remain silent. Even in prison, however, he has not stopped fighting, his supporters further enraging Mr Putin by posting details of a gigantic “new Versailles” or “Winter Palace” costing $1.7bn being built for him on the Black Sea. The video has had more than 80 million views.

In Moscow, more than 50,000 people braved a massive police presence in Pushkin Square, a short walk from the Kremlin, to demand both Mr Navalny’s release and declare “Putin is a thief”. Ahead of parliamentary elections in September, the importance of the challenge Mr Navalny poses is difficult to overstate.

Given the regularity with which Putin critics come to grief, there will inevitably be fears for Mr Navalny’s safety. The Russian leader’s record shows no compunction when dealing ruthlessly with those who cross him. In a chilling Instagram post last Friday, Mr Navalny warned of likely fresh attempts to kill him: “Just in case: I don’t plan to hang myself on the window or cut my veins or throat open with a sharpened spoon. I use the staircase very carefully (and) they take my (blood) pressure every day so a sudden heart attack is ruled out.”

The strong show of support for Mr Navalny across Russia may serve as a form of political life insurance. Western democracies, particularly Joe Biden’s new US administration, should make very clear that further brutal repression by Mr Putin’s regime will lead to exposure of the vast assets that he and his associates have salted away overseas, chiefly in the UK and US. Because of Donald Trump’s indulgent attitude towards Mr Putin, he has never been adequately punished for the 2018 Novichok poisonings in the UK and the 2014 invasion of Crimea.

Mr Biden, after meeting the Russian despot in 2011, famously recalled that he looked into his eyes and “saw no soul”. That should be a good starting point for what Mr Navalny’s plight shows must be a far more determined Western approach in confronting Mr Putin’s appalling treatment of his democratic opponents.