When Russia’s 44-year-old famous Russian dissident Aliexi Navalny was convicted of violating probation and sentenced to two-years-eight-months in a penal colony Feb. 2, he was transferred from a Moscow jail to quarantine for two weeks in Kolchugino jail in central Russia. He was visited by his lawyer Olga Mikhailove daily, before he was shipped off to the infamous IK2 penal only about 100 kilometers [62 miles] east of Moscow, a leftover gulag from Russaia’s Soviet past. During Navalny’s three weeks in a Moscow jail during his trial and two weeks in quarantine, his attorneys never complained about a mysterious back ailment that now plagues him at the IK2 penal colony. Now that he’s doing time in the penal colony without access to his attorneys, he’s suddenly gravely ill, requiring urgent medical care, something he’s not getting enough of in his penal colony.
Navalny’s former chief of staff Leonid Volkov has done a masterful job of keeping Russia’s best known Russian dissident in the news while he rots in a penal colony. Made a cause célèbre in the United States and European Union [EU], Navalny’s now responsible for the deteriorated relations with Russia. U.S. and EU officials accuse 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin of poisoning Navalny in Tomsk, Siberia with Soviet era nerve agent Novichok Aug. 24, the same poison used by Russian agents to poison former FSB agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia March 4, 2018. While Putin denies the charges, he’s been tried-and-convicted in the U.S. and EU, slapping the Kremlin with new sanctions March 2. Things went from bad to worse with U.S. and EU-Russian relations, when 78-year-old President Joe Biden called Putin March 16 a “soulless killer” on national TV.
Both the U.S. and EU have demanded that Navalny be released from jail, something Putin considers meddling in Russia’s internal affairs. Yet that’s not stopping Volkov from launching a 24/7 media campaign to pressure Russian authorities to release Navalny from confinement. After his alleged poisoning, Navalny was airlifted to Berlin where he spent four months recovering before returning to Moscow Jan. 14 to continue his one-man insurgency against Putin and the Kremlin. Navalny’s been adopted by the U.S. and EU as the best hope for democratic revolution in Russia, despite the fact democratic reforms were tried-and-failed in Russia before Putin came to power in 1999. Lucky for Navalny, the Western press has taken up his case, because of his alleged poisoning, taking on the Russian Goliath all by himself, something admired in the West, until insurgents get too close to home.
When a riot broke out at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, Congress blamed the event on as a carefully orchestrated coup d’etat by former President Donald Trump, protesting the results of the Nov. 3, 2020 presidential election. Unlike Navalny that gets as free pass by the Western press, Trump was vilified as fomenting revolution, actual impeached by House Democrats for “incitement of insurrection.” There was no tolerance for Trump or any of his backers, accusing them with “sedition” for breaching the Capitol and vandalizing government property. But when it comes to Navalny, he can call for the overthrow of Putin and the Kremlin and he’s seen as a hero in the Western press. So now the Western press is fixated on Navalny’s medical problems, claiming prison officials are denying him urgent medical treatment. But if Navalny’s suffering from sciatica, it certainly was never detected before his incarceration in the penal colony.
Volkov announced he was setting up a national Website to launch more national protests over Navalny’s incarceration. Last time he promoted street protests, 11,000 Russians were charged with inciting unrest, paying fine and spending time in jail. Yet Volkov’s media blitz has just begun, now focused heavily on Navalny’s back problems. “My condition has worsened. I feel acute pain in my right leg, and I feel numbness in its lower part,” Navalny wrote. “I have trouble walking,” describing what most experts think is down-the-leg pain from as inflamed disk. If it’s true that part of the prison regimen is standing for long periods of time, it’s possible it could have triggered some kind of lingering back problem. Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhalova said after visiting him in prison that “his right leg is in terrible shape.” Navlany’s wife Yulia said he should go to a Moscow hospital for treatment.
With the help of the Western media, Navalny’s manager Volkov hopes to apply enough pressure on the Kremlin to spring him from prison. Threatening more mass protests around the country, Volkov claims he’s already signed up 250,000 protesters ready to take to the streets in the Spring. When asked by reporters about Navalny’s condition, Putin said it was out of his hands in the prison system. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin wasn’t following the Western press coverage. Kremlin officials believe the U.S. and EU are actively engaged in psychological warfare against the Russian Federation. Judging by the recent sanctions and Biden calling Putin a “soulless killer,” the West has opted for a new Cold War, hoping a dissident like Navalny can eventually topple Putin’s 20-year reign of power. Putin and Kremlin look to close ranks and hunker down.
