Beautiful Russia of the Future is Dead

By Yuri Terekhov, political consultant and researcher, and Visiting Scholar at the The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

According to Russian official sources, Kremlin critic and leading opposition politician Alexei Navalny died in prison. Yuri Terekhov reflects on the news and his life.

Today, at the age of 47, Alexei Navalny, one of the leading critics of the Kremlin, a star of the Russian liberal opposition, and the leader of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, passed away. He survived an assassination attempt, courageously returned to Russia three years ago, only to be sentenced to decades of torture in one of the most notorious Arctic prisons.

Let’s be honest. This is an overt political assassination. I dare say that along with him, the dream of many Russians of a “Beautiful Russia of the Future,” of a chance for democratic change within the existing system through peaceful means, has finally perished.

I remember chanting “Putin is a thief” at protest rallies, but that was a mistake. The past few years have vividly shown the world that he is a murderer and a maniac. And with murderers, one can only negotiate from a position of strength. Not just moral strength, but also ideological and armed strength.

I didn’t personally know Navalny well, but I worked on his mayoral campaign in Moscow in 2013, attended his speeches at protest rallies multiple times and know dozens of his colleagues. He was a sincere and empathetic person, who genuinely wanted to see Russia as a free and democratic country. He inspired people with his optimism and even in the horrifying conditions of imprisonment, he never lost that spirit.

Russia is harsh with those who reject it, but merciless with those who love it with their own love.

Undoubtedly, Alexei’s strength of character irritated the paranoid old men in the Kremlin.

The bosses of this mafia state have always been sure: any person can be broken. Intimidated or bought. Every person has their price. But they miscalculated with Alexei Navalny. He perished unbroken. He gave his life for the Beautiful Russia of the Future, in which he believed until the end. He proved that a person can give their life for what they believe in, even if their dream was so abstract and illusory. Bravery comes at a high cost. For people of goodwill, and foremost, Russian oppositionists, there are lessons to be learned. We all must take it into account that the regime, the lethally ill successor to the Bolshevik dictatorship, with an obsessed ruling class, is ready to stoop to any depravity, filth, and crime to prolong its existence.

Why was Navalny killed now? Because he became expendable. Before, he might have been useful for bargaining over Ukraine, for peace, for personal security guarantees. Now, Russia will not make peace with anyone; it will continue to wage war for a long time, trying to seize neighboring countries. 

It wasn’t us, but the Putinist top brass themselves who set the dilemma: either peace or Russia. Navalny was killed far away, without witnesses, to prevent any public outcry, as happened with Nemtsov’s murder. Like Boris Nemtsov, Navalny will remain a politician even after death. 

In one of his interviews, Alexei said that in the event of his death, we should not despair and should continue to fight. This is true; let’s heed his words but also learn from history.

If you want to know what will happen in Russia tomorrow, just look at what happened yesterday.

The previous assassination attempt on Navalny, the banning of his and other opposition organizations, and the rewriting of the Constitution occurred on the eve of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. I would urge listening to those who warn of a new wave of violence, perhaps, but God forbid, the doomsday clock has already started ticking.

Putin and his henchmen bear the burden of responsibility for monstrous atrocities. They callously killed hundreds of thousands of people. In Chechnya, in Georgia, in Syria, in Ukraine. One might wonder what difference the death of one more person, even someone as bright and significant as Alexei Navalny, could make. But sometimes, just one death can tip the scales of bloody crimes. Let the death of Alexei Navalny help the world finally realize: there can be no compromise or coexistence with the regime of psychopaths and murderers. It must be destroyed, and the evil empire finally dismantled. The executioners must be held accountable for their crimes. Today, it is the duty of every decent person to do everything in their power to hasten their end. The peoples of Russia deserve a happy future, but they will have to fight for it. It’s a long and bloody path. And perhaps, our children’s children will see the dawn.

Eternal memory to Alexei Navalny. We will never forget and never forgive.

(This post is republished from RevDem.)