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Alexei Navalny

Russian jurist and opposition leader (1976–2024)

Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (4 June 1976 – 16 February 2024) was a Russian opposition leader, dissident, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He came to international prominence by organizing anti-government demonstrations and running for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against President Vladimir Putin and his government. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member, the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalized in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB). The EU, UK and US responded by imposing sanctions on senior Russian officials. On 17 January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was detained on accusations of violating parole conditions because he had failed to report to Russia's Federal Prison Service (FSIN) twice per month during his illness. Following his arrest and the release of the documentary Putin's Palace, which accused Putin of corruption, mass protests were held across Russia. On 2 February, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and half years' detention in a corrective labour colony in Vladimir Oblast. While in prison, Navalny and human rights groups have accused Russian authorities of using torture against him. He is recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In October 2021, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.

If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power, to not give up, to remember that we are a huge power, that is being repressed by these bad dudes. We don’t realize how strong we actually are. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. So don’t be inactive.

Quotes

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  • No one should be beaten. [Instead,] everything that bothers us should be carefully, but unyieldingly eliminated by means of deportation... A tooth without a root is considered dead. A nationalist is he who does not want the root ‘Russian’ to be deleted from the word ‘Russia.’ We have the right to be Russian in Russia and we will protect this right.
  • We have problems with illegal migration, we have the problem of the Caucasus, we have a problem of ethnic crimes... the fact that our authorities hypocritically pretend that such problems do not exist leads to people discussing them only in the street, at the Russian March.
  • The inner compass of Alexei Navalny tells Alexei Navalny where to go. Everything else is uninteresting to me.
    • Echo of Moscow (2013)
    • Original Russian: Нет такого спонсора, которому я хотел бы угодить. Благодаря этому, кстати, мы сейчас на свою избирательную кампанию собрали 39 миллионов точно также маленькими пожертвованиями, поэтому мы абсолютно свободны, и я очень наслаждаюсь этим положением, что я вообще могу что угодно делать, то, что я хочу. Внутренний компас Алексея Навального говорит, куда идти Алексею Навальному, а все остальное мне неинтересно.

2020s

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  • Listen, I’ve got something very obvious to tell you. You’re not allowed to give up. If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power, to not give up, to remember that we are a huge power, that is being repressed by these bad dudes. We don’t realize how strong we actually are. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. So don’t be inactive.
    • In the Daniel Rohr film Navalny (2021), as quoted in "Alexei Navalny Had Already Shared a Message for the World in the Event of His Death" (February 2024), by Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire
    • Alternate translation: We should not give up. If it has happened and they have killed me, it means we are more powerful than ever before. So we have to use that power. Don't give up and remember that we are a powerful force that is being suppressed by these bad guys just because we can't realize how powerful we actually are. All evil needs to triumph is the inaction of good people, so keep going.
  • I have grown a beard for the 20 days of my transportation. Unfortunately, there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy, and very beautiful shepherd dogs. And the most important thing: I now live above the Arctic Circle. In the village of Kharp on Yamal. The nearest town has the beautiful name of Labytnangi. I don't say "Ho-ho-ho", but I do say "Oh-oh-oh" when I look out of the window, where I can see a night, then the evening, and then the night again.
    The 20 days of my transportation were pretty exhausting, but I'm still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus. They brought me here on Saturday night. And I was transported with such precaution and on such a strange route (Vladimir - Moscow - Chelyabinsk - Ekaterinburg - Kirov - Vorkuta - Kharp) that I didn't expect anyone to find me here before mid-January. That's why I was very surprised when the cell door was opened yesterday with the words: "A lawyer is here to see you". He told me that you had lost me, and some of you were even worried. Thanks very much for your support! … Anyway, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I'm totally relieved that I've finally made it. Thanks again to everyone for your support. And happy holidays!

We - Russia - want to be a nation of peace (2022)

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We — Russia — want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few people would call us that now.
But let's at least not become a nation of frightened silent people. Of cowards who pretend not to notice the aggressive war against Ukraine unleashed by our obviously insane czar.
 
Everything has a price, and now, in the spring of 2022, we must pay this price. There's no one to do it for us. Let's not "be against the war." Let's fight against the war.
Twitter thread (2 March 2022)
  • We — Russia — want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few people would call us that now.
    But let's at least not become a nation of frightened silent people. Of cowards who pretend not to notice the aggressive war against Ukraine unleashed by our obviously insane czar.
    I cannot, do not want and will not remain silent watching how pseudo-historical nonsense about the events of 100 years ago has become an excuse for Russians to kill Ukrainians, and for Ukrainians to kill Russians while defending themselves.
    It's the third decade of the 21st century, and we are watching news about people burning down in tanks and bombed houses. We are watching real threats to start a nuclear war on our TVs.
    I am from the USSR myself. I was born there. And the main phrase from there — from my childhood — was "fight for peace." I call on everyone to take to the streets and fight for peace.
  • Putin is not Russia. And if there is anything in Russia right now that you can be most proud of, it is those 6,824 people who were detained because - without any call - they took to the streets with placards saying "No War". They say that someone who cannot attend a rally and does not risk being arrested for it cannot call for it. I'm already in prison, so I think I can.
    We cannot wait any longer. Wherever you are, in Russia, Belarus or on the other side of the planet, go to the main square of your city every weekday and at 2 pm on weekends and holidays.
    If you are abroad, come to the Russian embassy. If you can organise a demonstration, do so on the weekend. Yes, maybe only a few people will take to the streets on the first day. And in the second - even less.
    But we must, gritting our teeth and overcoming fear, come out and demand an end to the war.
    Each arrested person must be replaced by two newcomers.
    If in order to stop the war we have to fill prisons and paddy wagons with ourselves, we will fill prisons and paddy wagons with ourselves.
    Everything has a price, and now, in the spring of 2022, we must pay this price. There's no one to do it for us. Let's not "be against the war." Let's fight against the war.

Letters Live Reading (2024)

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Read by Benedict Cumberbatch (7 Mar 2024)
  • For three years, I've been answering the same question. Inmates ask it plainly and directly. Prison administration staff cautiously, with the recorders off. "Why did you come back?"
  • Russian politics over the last decade [has] so inculcated society with cynicism and conspiracy theory that people fundamentally do not believe in simple motives.
  • I have my country and my convictions. And I don't want to renounce either my country or my convictions. And I cannot betray either the first or the second. If your convictions are worth anything, you should be ready to stand up for them. And, if necessary, make some sacrifices. And if you're not ready, then you have no convictions at all. You just think you do. But those are not convictions and principles – just thoughts in your head.
  • I traveled across the country and declared from the stage everywhere, "I promise, I will not let you down, I will not deceive you, and I will not abandon you." By returning, I fulfilled my promise to my voters. After all, there must eventually be those in Russia who do not lie to them.
  • [N]ow, secretarians and marginals are in power. Generally, they have no ideas. Their only goal is to cling to their seats. Perfected hypocrisy allows them to adapt and adopt any disguise, thus polygamists have become conservatives, members of the Communist Party have become Orthodox Christians, owners of golden passports and offshore accounts have become aggressive patriots. Lies, lies, and nothing but lies. It will collapse and fall apart. Putin's state is unviable. One day, we'll look at its place and it will be gone. Victory is inevitable. But for now, we must not give up, and hold on to our convictions.

Book: "Patriot: A Memoir" by Alexei Navalny (2024)

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  • The important thing is not to torment yourself with anger, hatred, fantasies of revenge, but to move instantly to acceptance. That can be hard.
    Russian: Главное – не терзать себя гневом, ненавистью, и фантазиями о мести. А мгновенно прийти к принятию. Это может быть очень непросто.
  • What are the chances that I'll survive this morning? I don't know; six out of ten? Eight out of ten? Maybe even ten out of ten? It's not that I'm trying not to think about it, closing my eyes and pretending the danger doesn't exist. But one day I simply made the decision not to be afraid. I weighed everything up, understood where I stand – and let it go.
    Russian: Какие шансы у меня выжить сегодня утром? Не знаю: шесть из десяти или восемь из десяти. А может, и все десять. Дело не в том, что я стараюсь об этом не думать, зажмуриваюсь и делаю вид, что опасности не существует, – просто однажды я принял решение не бояться. Я всё взвесил, понял и отпустил.

Quotes about Navalny

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In chronological order.
  • Even behind bars Navalny was a real threat to Putin, because he was living proof that courage is possible, that truth exists, that Russia could be a different kind of country. For a dictator who survives thanks to lies and violence, that kind of challenge was intolerable. Now Putin will be forced to fight against Navalny’s memory, and that is a battle he will never win.
  • A courageous dissident beyond xenophobic and fascist ideas, which in Italy would have landed him in jail for incitement to racism under the Mancino law.
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