Whereabouts unknown
Navalny has gone home to Russia and been arrested on arrival.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been detained after defiantly flying back to Moscow on Sunday, his spokesperson said, months after he was left in a coma when he was poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent.
Facing the threat of his arrest on touching down, the prominent Kremlin critic boarded a plane in Berlin, Germany, where he was evacuated for treatment in August from a hospital in Siberia on the insistence of his family.
The plane, which was originally headed for Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, was diverted to the capital’s Sheremetyevo Airport shortly before landing, Navalny’s press officer Kira Yarmysh confirmed in a tweet, without explaining why the plane was re-routed.
Yarmysh posted a video of Navalny being escorted away by officials in Sheremetyevo, saying he was being detained without explanation and was not allowed to bring his lawyer. His current whereabouts and status are unknown, Yarmysh tweeted Sunday.
Putin’s not subtle.
Putin’s not subtle.
Maybe Putin had better watch his back. One of the great things about liberal and representative democracy is that the nation featuring it can change its government without having to go through a civil war.
Which is not to say that there still aren’t wannabees who want to try themselves out as autocrats; it is just that they are limited by historical tradition, folk memory, and for what it’s worth, law. The eyes of the world are now on Navalny; and on Putin. That limits Vlad Dracula’s I mean Joe Stalin’s I mean Vlad Putin’s freedom of movement . He is constrained.
Navalny’s move is very reminiscent of Lenin’s 1917 return to Tsarist Russia from his western exile. Maybe Putin should borrow a copy of John Reed’s classic Ten Days that Shook the World. from the Kremlin library. He might see certain parallels between Navalny and Lenin.
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https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/04/16/on-this-day-vladimir-lenin-arrives-in-st-petersburg-triggering-the-october-revolution-a65247
It’s not like he needs to fear any pushback from Trump.
What was the charge? Possession of a deadly agent?
Ahhh they don’t have to explain themselves, now do they.
Nah, but it would be the kind of Kafkaesque twist you’d expect.