Seriously, what new hell has he been thrown into now? Because he’s missing from Melekhovo penal colony, where he has been imprisoned since being found guilty of “founding and funding an extremist organization” — charges that he unequivocally denies.

His associate, Kira Yarmysh, said on Monday that there had been no news of him for six days, and that he had been absent from several recent court appearances, which he has in the past attended by video link. Prison authorities blamed the absences on technical problems at the colony. She further said that lawyers waiting for news outside Melekhovo, 235 km (145 miles) east of Moscow, and another nearby colony, had been told that he was not registered in either place. [Robert Greenall, BBC News, Dec. 11, 2023.]

Alexei Navalny has been a thorn in Vladimir Putin’s side for many years now. A staunch political reformer, he has gained a huge following throughout Russia, and has proven himself to be a viable competitor to Putin. For this reason alone, he had to be silenced. But he survived an attempt on his life when he was poisoned with the Russian nerve agent Novichok in August of 2020. Because of the worldwide publicity, he was permitted to seek treatment in Germany, where the poisonous substance was identified, and where he was brought back to reasonably good health.

And then he made the decision that would change the rest of his life: he returned to his homeland, where he was arrested immediately upon arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. He has been in one prison or another ever since. But where is he now? And why has this happened at this particular time?

Well, think about it. On Friday, December 8th, Vladimir Putin officially announced that he will be running for his fifth term as President of the Russian Federation — not a surprise, but an official announcement that had inexplicably been postponed and kept secret for many weeks. And no sooner was that announcement made than Alexei Navalny disappeared from sight.

According to Navalny’s aide, Leonid Volkov, this was “0% coincidence and 100% direct manual political control from the Kremlin. It’s not a secret for Putin who his main opponent is in these ‘elections.’ and he wants to make it so that Navalny’s voice is not heard. So each one of us must become the voice of Navalny.” [Robert Greenall, BBC News, Dec. 11, 2023.]

Intelligent, personable, courageous, attractive, honest, sincere . . . all of these qualities have made Navalny the one Russian opposition leader who has been able to gather the large numbers of people throughout Russia needed to form a viable opposition. Over more than a decade he has drawn tens of millions of online viewers to his video investigations into corruption in the Russian government. He is, to state it mildly, a serious threat to the Putin regime.

And as such, he must be dealt with. His health has been failing in recent months. Will he now suddenly “decline” and die “while receiving the best medical care” in a prison hospital? Or will that be too extreme even for Putin, in light of Navalny’s great popularity? Could that even be the spark that might finally light the tinder of an already nascent people’s revolution? Might it be best just to keep him locked away, out of reach of even his legal team, in a maximum-security penal colony, perhaps in far Eastern Siberia? It’s a decision that can only be made by Vladimir Putin himself; and I would imagine it’s keeping him awake at night.

*. *. *

This is, as they say, a breaking and continuing story. Be assured that I will be following it closely . . . meanwhile sending my hopes and prayers to Alexei Navalny, his family, and his legion of friends and supporters for a best-case outcome.

UPDATE: Today (December 12th), U.S. National Security spokesman John Kirby commented on the disappearance of Alexei Navalny as follows: “He should never have been jailed in the first place, and we’re going to work with our embassy in Moscow to see how much more we can find out.” [CNN’s 5 Things, Dec. 12, 2023.]

Presidential spokesman (and chief propagandist) Dmitry Peskov has claimed that the Kremlin does not know where Navalny is currently being held, and that they have no intention of looking into the matter. He called U.S. expressions of concern over Navalny’s disappearance “unacceptable.” He told reporters:

“Here we are talking about one prisoner who, according to the law, was found guilty and is serving his sentence, and here we consider any intervention by anyone, including the United States of America, unacceptable and impossible.” [Patrick Reevell, ABC News, Dec. 12, 2023.]

I don’t know how much good it will do — considering the obduracy and total lack of transparency of the Russian government — but I am pleased to know that at least we are trying, and that Alexei Navalny is not being forgotten. He is not a U.S. citizen; but his opposition to the increasingly totalitarian nature of Vladimir Putin’s regime is of vital importance to the Russian people and to the entire free world. We must not fail Navalny or any of the other political prisoners being held unjustly in Russian penal colonies.

I ask myself: How many human rights violations can one country be allowed to get away with? And the number just keeps growing.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/13/23