OPINION: What Does the Killing of Alexei Navalny Mean?

The killing of Alexei Navalny reveals Russian President Vladimir Putin to be an arrogant barbarian with no regard for civility or humanity. It reveals that Russia considers the West feckless. It should be a wake-up call for the US and Europe. It removes any illusions that Putin is yet another leader of a country that we simply do not understand. It confirms that Russia and the democratic US and Europe are at the crossroads of a conflagration unless we address this problem now.

The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is significant because Navalny was the leading opponent to Russia's and Putin's regime, even though he was thousands of miles away from Moscow, in a prison camp in the Arctic Circle.

Navalny was not a threat to Putin's presidential ambitions. In essence, by languishing in the Russian prison system, he would have become irrelevant after a while. There was no way that the Kremlin would have released him and he would eventually have died.

Why did Putin kill him? Simply, because he decided that he wanted to.

Three days before his demise, Navalny's mother met with him and later posthumously stressed that he was well and in good spirits. On the day before his death, he appeared before a Russian facsimile of a court and actually joked and ridiculed the judicial system. His immediate death was not anticipated. Yet Putin decided to kill him on the eve of an upcoming presidential election – a farce in Russia and in the midst of fragile US resolve to help Ukraine. 

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For many, Navalny is a difficult person to understand. He was once a man safe in exile, having been a medical patient in the West after the Kremlin tried to poison him. He could have stayed (relatively by Russian standards) safe and become a leader of the opposition in Russia from exile. Instead, he decided that he had to die to make any significant difference in the Russia that he apparently loved and hoped to change.

Very few could have done what Navalny did. He went back to Russia, essentially to be killed. There are few Navalnys in this world. To grasp the significance of his sacrifice, we need only consider some alleged leaders in our own country: Tucker Carlson, Speaker Mike Johnson, former President Donald J. Trump.

A comparison of these individuals with Navalny would not be laughable, but disproportionate only because there is nothing laughable about Navalny's death. But this is what we have in the US today: Carlson, Johnson and Trump.  All misplaced. Carlson has no business being a journalist. Johnson has none being the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Trump is an aberration as former president of the United States and a candidate once again for the highest office. 

It is possible that Putin in his arrogance has made a mistake. Thugs and strongmen do make mistakes. In democratic societies, we seem to think that the other side is exact in its evil. Putin has been emboldened recently by his poll numbers in a farcical election where all opposition has been essentially eliminated and what appears to him to be a US betrayal of Ukraine with Putin’s friend looming in the near distance as the next US president.

Aside from the tragedy of a human death, there is a huge political component to Navalny's demise. Navalny, because of who he was and his courage, has transcended simple humanity. He was a symbol and may become a martyr to future generations, although Russian culture is almost impervious to anything good or decent.

There has been a world reaction to Putin's killing of Navalny. World leaders have expressed their opprobrium against Putin. They have clearly accused Putin of murder. Even Speaker Johnson has addressed the killing. There may and should be a tangible reaction.

And so let's refrain from scoffing at people hiding fecklessness behind religious zealotry like Johnson, who talk good Christianity and reverence to the Bible but are indifferent to their fellow human beings. 

Give Speaker Johnson a chance to do what is right. He has spoken, but the response from him should be putting the aid for Ukraine bill to a vote immediately. Speaker Johnson, consult the Bible. You must know what is wrong and be able to find it in Scripture. Killing is wrong. 

In the interim and because of US fecklessness, another Ukrainian city has fallen, Avdiivka. An immediate and overwhelming vote in favor of military aid to Ukraine by the House should be the US response to Putin's murder of Navalny. The best response to Putin's and Russia's killing machine is a military victory of democracy and good over evil in Ukraine.

The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.