Putin shows his evil timidity in Navalny’s death

Russian investigative journalist and opposition figure Alexei Navalny has died. Russian authorities say that Navalny collapsed after a walk at the prison colony where he was imprisoned on false charges of corruption and extremism. The 47-year-old was detested by Vladimir Putin and his cronies for publicizing their rampant corruption and for his humorous repudiations of their efforts to portray him as a foreign stooge.

While there was always a high risk of Navalny being killed in prison, it is as yet unclear what happened to him. Navalny had been subjected to repeated ill-treatment by prison authorities and often denied basic medical care. And in December, Navalny was moved to the “Polar Wolf” maximum security prison colony in northwestern Russia. Deeply isolated and fewer than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Arctic-facing Kara Sea, this area was central to the Soviet Union’s gulag system. Now it’s part of Putin’s gulag network. Temperatures at the prison were well below freezing this week. Although not a physical security threat, Navalny was relocated in order to increase both his hardship and his political isolation in advance of the 2024 Russian presidential election.