Courage in the wake of Navalny

The bravery of many ordinary Russians who, at immense personal risk, openly have been honouring the memory of Alexei Navalny sends a message to Vladimir Putin. The sociopathic tyrant may see Navalny’s death in prison – or his murder, more likely – as a triumph in wiping out a key opponent. But the way Russians in their hundreds have defied the dictatorship and taken to the streets in cities and towns across the country to express their outrage over Navalny’s fate suggests the smugness Putin displays on television may not be all it appears.

It takes courage to do what so many are doing, leaving flowers at makeshift memorials while surly security police watch and then remove and trash the tributes. In Moscow mourners have placed flowers at the Solovetsky Stone, a memorial for victims of Soviet Gulags similar to the Siberian prison where the brave opposition leader died. The piles of roses and carnations framing portraits of Navalny will not alter the outcome of a presidential election next month that will not be free or fair. But they show, even in the face of murderous oppression, that many decent Russians endorse Navalny’s demand for freedom, human rights and an end to the corruption that underpins the regime and has enriched Putin and the thugs who serve him.

Navalny’s distraught widow, Yulia Navalnaya, 47, has vowed to carry on her husband’s crusade against the regime, courageously undeterred by the monstrous treatment of her husband. She said she would work to achieve his goal of a “peaceful, happy Russia, a beautiful Russia of the future, of which my husband dreamed of so much”. Undaunted, she accused authorities of fatally poisoning her husband. She also condemned the regime for refusing to hand over his body to his deeply distressed 69-year-old mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, who went to the Arctic penal colony to retrieve it, to no avail.

Putin has removed his most prominent opponent in time for the election. But he has not killed off the bravery and determination of Russians committed to building a nation based on Navalny’s ideals. That, perhaps, is Navalny’s legacy and his most fitting monument – one that hopefully will give the Kremlin despot ongoing nightmares.