The Russia Conundrum

When he was asked in March 2021 if he thought Putin was a killer, Joe Biden had no hesitation in answering in the affirmative. Decisions on the legitimate use of force are made by the leaders of many states and this in itself does not make them murderers. Force may be justified if it is used in the public interest, following a proper legal process and when no other means is possible. The key phrases are ‘due process’ and ‘in the public interest’. The arbitrary and unjustified decisions taken by Putin, or by his entourage with Putin’s consent, meet none of these criteria. They are common criminal acts of violence and murder carried out in the venal interests of corrupt individuals.

CHAPTER 21

MAKING MARTYRS

When Alexei Navalny flew back to Russia on 17 January 2021, I’m sure he knew he would be arrested and sent to jail. He had been poisoned five months earlier by the Russian secret police, the FSB, on the orders of Vladimir Putin. His crime was to reveal the corruption and self- enrichment of the president at the expense of the Russian nation.

I had myself travelled exactly the same path 18 years earlier, so I understood better than most why Navalny took the deliberate step of being imprisoned, possibly for a long time. As I explained earlier, I knew that when I confronted Putin in 2003, I was likely to be arrested.

I had pointed out the corruption in Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin and Alexei Navalny had done the same. After he was poisoned, he had been flown for treatment to Germany and could easily have stayed in relative safety abroad. He chose to return because he had wanted to make a difference to the future of Russia, but he was arrested at the gates of Moscow airport. Like me, he was tried on nonsensical charges of embezzlement. A court in February 2021 sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in a labour camp; and in February 2022 he was put on trial again, facing charges that carried a maximum penalty of 15 years.

Will Navalny’s sacrifice change things? I hope so. I can say with certainty that my denunciation of corruption in the Kremlin, followed by my ten years as a political prisoner, made many more Russians aware of the big questions facing our country today. It gave me the opportunity to continue promoting the values of freedom and democracy. Putting Alexei Navalny in jail and keeping him there may seem like a solution for Putin, but it creates a very public martyr that the world will find hard to ignore.

For the Russian people, even those who dislike figures such as Navalny, there is a recognition that the willingness to suffer persecution and imprisonment is a token of integrity in the pursuit of a moral cause. Memories remain strong of Soviet-era dissidents such as Sergei Kovalev, Anatoly Shcharansky, Lyudmila Alekseeva and Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov. Navalny in jail is a rallying point. For much of the Russian intelligentsia it makes the situation black and white – you can either support Putin and the continuation of the status quo in Russia, or you can support the fight for democracy, through Navalny.

There have been calls for me to take a more central role in opposition politics, which is something I have considered doing in the past. But I do not wish to repeat the example of Boris Berezovsky, who came to London and railed against Putin without achieving much, before ultimately asking the Kremlin to allow him to return to Russia and dying before he could do so. Instead, I am committed to working with all the representatives of the progressive opposition, including Navalny, Garry Kasparov, Andrei Pivovarov, Dmitry Gudkov and others. I want to contribute something constructive, taking an objective view of East–West relations, to propose solutions that will benefit the people of Russia, America and the world. Now, with history hastening its march, I am convinced more than ever that the future lies with us. There is ample and growing evidence that the Putin regime is becoming desperate, resorting to ever greater violence and repression to thwart the aspirations of the Russian people. The decision to invade Ukraine was an irresponsible gamble with genuine potential to rebound on Putin and his cronies. This is the moment to find hope and to take action.

Alexei Navalny at a court hearing in Moscow, February 2021