Retribution and justice for Alexei Navalny needs to be more than just talk
Talk of more sanctions to punish and deter figures in Vladimir Putin’s regime who are linked to the persecution and death of democracy campaigner Alexei Navalny is just that, really: talk.
Existing sanctions, the harshest and most extensive Western financial penalties ever ranged against a major country, have not contained the Kremlin’s violence and oppression at home or abroad. Freezing the assets of a few more oligarchs or high-ranking regime thugs won’t achieve this, either.
The truth is that ordinary Russians’ ability to oppose Putin’s police state regime is limited. And in the short term, the West can offer little more than moral support. It does, however, have the power to foil Putin’s plan to rebuild what he considers his rightful Russian empire.
The first step is ensuring that Ukraine survives as a free, Western democracy, even if it has to ultimately cede some territory. This will inevitably require Nato membership.
Right now, as Kyiv is running out of bullets, Republicans in Congress block President Joe Biden’s latest $60bn support package.
Perhaps Navalny’s death will prick the consciences of key Republicans. These are the ones currently following Trump’s isolationist, pro-Putin line – not out of commitment, but for the sake of their careers, despite knowing the danger this represents to Western security.
If they could summon just the tiniest fraction of Navalny’s integrity, they would vote to help save Ukraine – and thereby deter Putin’s ambitions to “de-Nazify” – that is, “invade and subjugate” – the countries next to it.
Sadly, Navalny wasn’t able to bring about change in Russia in his lifetime. But preventing Putin’s imperial ambitions might ultimately do Navalny’s bidding – and end Russia’s agony.
There’s a strong argument that Russia’s defeat in Ukraine is necessary to end Putin’s reign. Comments yesterday from one figure in the Putin regime, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Russian security council, underline this.
He repeated his claims that Russia would fire nuclear missiles at London, Washington, Berlin and Kyiv if the war goes badly for the Kremlin. He sounds increasingly unhinged.
But his comments reveal the regime’s fear of losing in Ukraine. Defeat there poses the biggest threat to the kleptocracy. Navalny would approve. His criminal death need not have been in vain.
