Appearing in a video feed to a Moscow courtroom, 44-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny denounced President Vladimir Putin, calling him a “thef” for pillaging and plundering Russia for the last 22-years. Navalny’s latest grandstanding shows there’s not much left in the tank for Russia’s best known dissident, reduced to a hapless inmate in a Russian penal colony some 100 kilometers [62-miles] from Moscow. Denouncing Putin, Navanly shows his defiance in the face of a legal system that plans to keep him locked up for the next two-and-a-half years. Western government and media are obsessed with Navalny since he was sent March 2 to the brutal IK-2 penal colony, reserved for only the most hardcore criminals. Since entering the facility March 2, Navalny has complained about his back and down-the-leg pain, prompting 78-year-old President Joe Biden to call for Navalny’s release.
No one can quite figure out why Western governments and the press report daily on Navalny’s condition, especially since he declared a hunger strike March 31, losing some 50 pounds. While Navalny blames prison officials for his deterioration, it hasn’t helped his health that he’s denied himself of food-and-water for the last four weeks. Since ending his hunger strike April 23, Navalny’s appeared emaciated with his new shaved head. “I looked in the mirror,” Navalny said. “Of course, I’m just a dreadful skeleton,” now only 72 kg [159 pounds] for his 6 foot, 2 inch frame. “You’re naked thieving king wants to continue to rule until the end . . . Another 10 years will come, a stolen decade will come,” Navalyny told the court defiantly, knowing the repercussions to his confinement. Navalny thinks if he insults Putin enough he’s a hero to Western governments and the press.
Russian authorities have cracked down on Navalny’s nationwide organization which, only last week, took to the streets to protest his incarceration. Navalny’s PR team, led by Leonid Volkov, have blamed prison authorities for Navalny’s deteriorated health but, in reality, it was due to over three week of hunger strike. To Western governments and the press, they hoped that Navalny could lead a national revovlution to topple Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny found out the hard way when he returned, against all advise, to Moscow Jan. 14, only to get arrested and charged with violating terms of his probation. Navalny spent four months in Germany recovering from alleged Novichok poisoning that almost killed him in Tomsk, Siberia. Navalny and his wife Yulia blamed Putin for trying to kill the self-proclaimed anti-corruption advocate, whose ambition is one day to lead Russia.
Calling Putin “your naked thieving king” is bound to make life tough for Navalny in Russia’s IK-2 penal colony, a former gulag. Navalny’s been kicking-and-screaming ever since entering the prison, claiming he was not getting the medical treatment needed to deal with a back ailment. Navalny thinks having the backing of world leaders like Biden prevents Putin from turning up the screws on his treatment in long-term incarceration. Navalny’s former chief of staff Leonid Volkov said it was “impossible” to keep Navanly’s nationwide organization going with all the arrests. “We’re officially dismantling the network of Navalny’s headquarters,” Volkov said on the messaging app Telegram. Volkov awaits a decision of a Moscow court to designate Navalny’s organization an extremist group.” Navalny makes no bones of the fact that he’s out to remove Putin from office.
U.S. politicians, especially Biden and Secretary of State Tony Blinken, have made it much worse for Navalny in captivity, demanding he’s released or, worse yet, threatening more sanctions if any harm comes to the Russian dissident. Biden has ranted against Putin for interfering in U.S. elections and Democracy. When Biden tells Putin to release Navalny from jail, or threatens more sanctions if anything happens to Navalny in prison, that’s more meddling in Russia’s internal affairs than anything done by Putin. Biden, who only last night delivered a State of the Union speech, mentioned nothing about the debacle in U.S. foreign policy. Since taking office, Biden has driven U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations to new lows. Hyping Wall Street or battle against Covid-19, Biden forgot completely the slow motion train wreck in U.S. foreign policy with Russia and China.
Biden and Blinken need to get over their obsession with Navaly, who does nothing to improve U.S. foreign policy. All the talk from the U.S. government and press about Navalny has made things worse for the Russian dissident, now at the mercy of prison authorities. Whatever Navalny’s deteriorated health, it’s more due to his hunger strike than anything done by prison officials. Navalny hoped he could generate enough bad publicity for Putin to pressure prison officials to let him out early. But with the U.S. and European Union [EU] meddling in Russian internal affairs, it’s doubtful lNavalny will get out early, unless as a corpse. Calling Putin your “naked thieving king” assures that Navalny will do his time but without much special attention. Insulting Putin in court only makes the case against Navalny stronger for the Kremlin, which is in no mood to make any concessions.
