Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Alexei Navalny: a profile in courage

Alexei Navalny kisses his wife as he is arrested

Vladimir Putin likes his opponents in exile: it makes them easier to portray as defectors who have turned their back on Russia. It suited him to have Alexei Navalny, the most prominent opposition leader in Russia, hiding in Germany fearing he’d be arrested (or worse) if he returned. But now, Navalny has flown back to Moscow – and was duly arrested at passport control. Every stage of his return – his flight out, his arrest, his goodbye to his wife – has been vividly documented on social media with images already making their way around Russia and the world. Navalny has made a swap: he has sacrificed his liberty to leave no doubt about his commitment to his country. And no doubt about how Putin operates. 

It’s now five months since Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent (and a signature Kremlin poision) and taken to a Berlin hospital while unconscious. ‘The question of whether to return or not never stood before me, simply because I didn’t leave,’ he tweeted last week. ‘I ended up in Germany, having arrived there in an intensive care box, for one reason alone: they tried to kill me.’ His supporters were waiting for him last night at Vnukovo airport but his plane was directed to Sheremetyevo, another one of Moscow’s four airports, where security officials in riot gear were waiting. 

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Navalny never made it past security, but his deft use of social media made the most of his few minutes of freedom back in Russia. Before his flight took off, he posted a video on Instagram in which his wife Yulia quotes Brat 2, a Russian crime drama: ‘Bring us some vodka, boy. We’re flying home.’


Their flight from Berlin was packed with journalists. When they landed, the livestream started again. Pictures were taken of him kissing goodbye to his wife before his arrest. She made it on to the concourse and was welcomed into the airport to cheers.


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