Two years ago today, Russian dissident and anti-corruption leader Aleksei Navalny died under mysterious circumstances in a Siberian penal colony known as Polar Wolf. Officially, his death was ruled to have been of “natural causes” — allegedly a heart condition. But the world knew better.

On Saturday — just two days before the second anniversary of his death, the true cause — poisoning by means of a rare toxin from a South American poison dart frog — was revealed by a team of European experts who had spent the last two years analyzing biological matter from Navalny’s body that was smuggled out of Russia at the time of his burial.

And today, at a memorial service held in his honor at the Borisovskoye Cemetery in Moscow, his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, spoke to a crowd of his still-devoted friends and followers.

Demanding justice for her son, she said that the findings confirmed “what we knew from the beginning . . . He was murdered.” [RFE/RL, February 16, 2026.]

And in an interview, Ksenia Fadeyeva — a former associate of Navalny who was herself imprisoned and released in a prisoner exchange later in 2024 — told reporters:

“We can’t afford to become apathetic and believe that our country has no future. If we do believe that it’s all over and that evil has prevailed, it really will prevail.” [Id.]

Good advice, not only for Russians living under Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule, but for all of us.

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So Aleksei Navalny’s fight against corruption and totalitarianism continues. And as long as it does, his spirit will be kept alive.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/16/26