I was thrilled to see that the documentary about Alexei Navalny won the Oscar. It will bring more attention to his unjust imprisonment by a dictatorship. I hope everyone gets to see this film. His family was there to share the award.
The KGB tried to poison him but failed. He was saved in a German hospital. He could have stayed out of Russia and remained free.
But he returned , knowing that Putin would lock him up for years. He is now in a remote prison camp, in solitary confinement.
But not forgotten.
Let’s hope this recognition bolsters his spirit.
Wonderful!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is great news.
I hope Navalny lives to see the day Putin is gone! I saw this movie on PBS…it is a real eye opener, and tragic.
I saw it on PBS also. Navalny has amazing courage. Ordinary people would take the opportunity to be a leader in exile and freedom. He chose prison and the possibility that Putin could murder him any day.
It’s on HBO Max and CNN+.
@Diane — Speaking of someone who is World’s Top 30 Education Professionals for 2023 (2), Congratulations! I found out via my another person I read, Dr. Brad Johnson. I knew I was here for a reason with your positive, highly intelligent, personable blog. Thanks for letting me be here.
Thanks! First I heard of it. Although I do know that last year I was the #1 on a list called Global Gurus of Education, then slipped to #2 this year. I lost interest when they wanted to sell me a plaque.
@Diane — Of course. It’s like being in the “Who’s Who in Education.” Then they wanted to sell me a book. Oh, “click bait” eh? Well, you are one of the best and now that I am retired, I love being able to connect with intelligent minds and actually have a conversation without retribution. Blessings.
Blessings to you in your retirement.
Looks like the same tactics are being used against another figure who opposes Putin, the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Russian scientist who developed their COVID vaccine was found murdered in his apartment. No one knows anything.
This is WaPo, so I don’t think it’s Russian propaganda, and the author is on your side in general, but has some important things to say about Navalny’s background that you seem to want to ignore: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/01/we-need-have-talk-about-alexei-navalny/
Dienne,
That’s a pathetic attempt to slime Alexei Navalny.
Two months after that article was published, Amnesty Internatiinal restored Navalny’s status as a prisoner of conscience and apologized to him.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57029346.amp
Since then, Amesty Intl has posted several statements about Navalny’s unjust detention.
Like this one:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/01/russia-two-years-after-aleksei-navalnys-arrest-russian-opposition-figures-suppressed-jailed-or-exiled/
Why are you so eager to attack Navalny and defend Putin? It is frankly bizarre.
So you’re completely denying his statements? Or excusing them? Or what? The statements are documented and he hasn’t walked them back. In fact, when he ran for mayor of Moscow, Jews were among his biggest critics because of his anti-semitic statements. https://itongadol.com/noticias/73171-moscow-mayor-hopeful-raises-jewish-fears-with-anti-semitic-remarks
You’re being fed a bill of goods on this guy. He’s no hero, he’s a neo-nazi. He’s not Putin’s “arch-enemy”, he is, at best, a fly Putin doesn’t care enough about to swat. He has less than 15% approval in Russia. He’s not going to be leading the second Russian revolution.
Dienne,
You posted a comment saying that Amnesty International withdrew its prisoner of conscience designation from Navalny. I showed you that AI resyiredcthat designation only two months later and apologized to Bavskny. You are very quick to call any critic of Putin a Nazi. Have you seen the documentary NAVALNY that won the Academy Award last night? I assume not.
You also insist that the Ukrainians fighting Putin’s unprovoked invasion into their country are “Nazis.”
Enough, Dienne. I won’t continue to engss as ge in this pointless exchange. Neither Navalny nor Zelensky are Nazis.
Putin is a Nazi.
This is Annesty International’s most recent statement on Navalny and Putin:
January 23, 2023
Russia: Two years after Aleksei Navalny’s arrest, Russian opposition figures suppressed, jailed or exiled
In the two years since mass protests in Russia against the politically motivated detention of prominent opposition activist Aleksei Navalny, the Russian authorities have been relentless in their attempts to dismantle the opposition movement and to create a more fearful environment for those defending human rights.
The Kremlin has attacked political opponents, independent media and civil society organizations on numerous fronts, weaponizing the law to bring about arrests and prosecutions on spurious charges while liquidating long-standing civil society organizations to stop their vital work.
“In the past two years, the Russian government has only intensified its witch-hunt of opposition and civil society organizations. Not one critic, human rights defender or independent journalist is safe from the threat of persecution, reprisals and repression,” said Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director.
Not one critic, human rights defender or independent journalist is safe from the threat of persecution, reprisals and repression.
Natalia Zviagina, Russia Director, Amnesty International
“Following Aleksei Navalny’s attempted poisoning in 2020 and arrest in 2021, Russian authorities sought to destroy freedom of expression in the country. This swift and ruthless crackdown allowed them to quickly stop mass protests against the full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year later.”
Ruthless crackdown on Navalny and his associates
On 2 February 2021, a court in Moscow replaced Navalny’s non-custodial sentence with a jail term of two years and eight months, later shortened by two months. Soon after, the Russian authorities began dismantling the Anti-Corruption Foundation and the Citizens’ Rights Protection Foundation, which Navalny founded, and closed his offices. On 9 June 2021, the two organizations were officially labelled as “extremist” and arbitrarily banned.
In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison, combined with the previous sentence, including under politically motivated charges of “fraud on an especially large scale”. But an even longer prison sentence may await him, as in September 2021 he was additionally charged with “creating and leading an extremist community”.
As if that wasn’t enough, in October 2022, authorities launched a new criminal investigation against Navalny for allegedly “promoting terrorism,” “funding and promoting extremism” and “rehabilitating Nazism.” If Navalny is convicted on these politically motivated charges, his total prison sentence may reach 30 years.
“Organizations associated with Aleksei Navalny are considered to be the archnemesis of the authorities, and have become the target of sweeping repressions. As a result, most of Navalny’s associates have had to flee the country,” said Natalia Zviagina.
Organizations associated with Aleksei Navalny are considered to be the archnemesis of the authorities, and have become the target of sweeping repressions
Natalia Zviagina, Russia Director, Amnesty International
Activists who stayed in Russia have faced prosecution and other reprisals. Several of Navalny’s colleagues and supporters were tried for the “violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules” following their calls for peaceful protests.
Lilia Chanysheva, the former head of Navalny’s office in Ufa, a city 1,400 km east of Moscow, became the first person arrested on charges of “creating and leading an extremist community” in November 2021. She remains in pre-trial detention and faces up to 18 years in jail.
In December 2021, Chanysheva’s colleagues, Vadim Ostanin from Barnaul, and Ksenia Fadeeva from Tomsk (both cities in Western Siberia), were charged with “organizing an extremist community” and “creating a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens.” This latter charge was once an obscure and rarely used article of the Criminal Code but is now frequently used against Navalny’s supporters.
In March 2022, Vadim Ostanin was placed in pre-trial detention where he remains today. The former technical director of Navalny Live YouTube channel, Daniel Kholodny, was arrested at the same time and remains in detention on charges of “participation in an extremist community.”
In December 2022, Zakhar Sarapulov, former head of Navalny’s Irkutsk office, was sentenced to a year of probation. In January 2023, Elizaveta Bychkova and Yegor Butakov, former coordinators of Navalny’s movement in Arkhangelsk, were ordered to restrict their movement for a year – their charges were reduced after they agreed to cooperate with the criminal investigation into Navalny’s activities.
Threat of prosecution remains even in exile
Navalny’s associates who managed to flee to European and other countries face prosecution upon their return to Russia. Leonid Volkov, who led Navalny’s regional network before its dissolution in April 2021, faces various charges ranging from “creating an extremist community” to “justification of terrorism” and “involving minors in committing dangerous acts.”
Navalny’s associates who managed to flee to European and other countries face prosecution upon their return to Russia
The former CEO of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Ivan Zhdanov, is also facing a set of “extremist” charges. Additionally, in March 2021 authorities arrested his father Yuri Zhdanov, a former local official in Arkhangelsk Oblast, and charged him with “abuse of authority”. In February 2022, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Several other Navalny associates, including spokesperson Kira Yarmysh, Lyubov Sobol, Georgy Alburov, Ruslan Shaveddinov, lawyer Vyacheslav Gimadi, are wanted for “participation in an extremist community” or other alleged “crimes.” Some of them were additionally charged with “dissemination of purposely false information about the Russian Armed Forces” and “justification of terrorism” in August 2022.
In addition to dismantling Navalny’s movement, the Russian authorities have also targeted the Open Russia and Vesna (Spring) movements, arrested and imprisoned prominent opposition figures and anti-war campaigners, and liquidated the human rights group Memorial, an icon of the human rights movement in Russia. Authorities have also attacked the respected Moscow Helsinki Group, closed independent media, and promoted censorship and militaristic rhetoric in educational and cultural institutions.
“The casualties of Russia’s crackdown on freedom of expression seem endless, and yet, Russian activists in the country and abroad continue to organize in support of human rights and against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Natalia Zviagina said.
The casualties of Russia’s crackdown on freedom of expression seem endless, and yet, Russian activists in the country and abroad continue to organize in support of human rights and against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director
“Aleksei Navalny and his associates who have been deprived of liberty for their peaceful activism must be released immediately and unconditionally, and all charges against them should be dropped. The international community should step up its support of Russian civil society, which is badly maimed but still capable of remarkable feats of resilience, courage and perseverance.”
I’ll ask you
Navalny’s statements are on record. That’s a fact. It’s also a fact that he has not renounced his ultranationalist views. I’m not smearing him, he smeared himself.
You have a history of denying all negative facts about anyone who opposes your monsters, Diane, rather than reckoning with those faults in an honest way. This is not the intellectual honesty many people came to respect in you. The world is not monsters vs. heroes – becoming fully human requires seeing the full humanity – the good and the bad – in everyone. Navalny in not a saint; Putin is not a monster. They are both immensely flawed human beings, nothing more, nothing less.
I have been searching for “the humanity” in Putin, as you put it. I haven’t found it. What kind of humane person would send missiles to civilian targets like homes, schools, hospitals, libraries, museums? Where is the humanity in destroying the public sources of heat, light, and water as winter sets in? Those are the actions of a moral monster.
You hate Navalny for his words.
You forgive Putin for his deeds.
Please don’t continue. You will never convince me that Putin is a humane actor who is misunderstood.
“flawed human beings”? Your hypocrisy is breathtaking.
You demonized the democrat in 2016 when you knew there was an open Supreme Court seat that would affect the direction of the court for the next decades, but you have sympathy and understanding for Putin’s “flaws”. And you have the chutzpah to lecture Diane Ravitch for not being as concerned about neo-Nazis as you are.
Dienne,
I end this discussion. You criticize Navalny because he is a nationalist. Is Putin not a nationalist? Is he not trying to restore the “glory” of the brutal Soviet Empire?
Putin is a monster. He has the blood of many thousands of Russian soldiers on his hands. He has the blood of many thousands of Ukrainian men, women, and children on his hands. He is a genocidal murderer.
And who has Navalny killed? No one.
Done with this absurd exchange.
Thank you for your thoughtful and fact-based responses to someone has unconscionably justified her support for Putin’s murderous attacks by these kind of desperate attempts to scapegoat everyone else.