Alexei Navalny's Sudden Siberian Illness

Despite the campaign Alexei Navalny's supporters waged against a constitutonal amendment allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to remain in office until at least 2036, past the current two consecutive term limit, the change passed in July, 2020. To preclude a challenge from a government-in-exile or any other "foreign" opponent, another constitutional amendment prohibits future Russian presidents from having established citizenship or permanent residency in another country. These constitutional changes are just the latest maneuvers Putin has made to eliminate domestic and foreign challenges. Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000 determined to restore Russia to pre-Communist collapse status. He switched from President to Prime Minister in 2008, but, when President Dmitry Medvedec's term was about to end in 2012, he decided to return to the presidency. His decision was greeted by an outbreak of protests about corruption, movtiated by Navalny, and a speech in Europe criticizing Russia's less than fair parliamentary election by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Putin determined to get his revenge on both the protests and Secretary Clinton. Yet, he saw red flags. Navalny unexpectedly won 30% of the vote in Moscow's 2013 mayoral contest with a Putin crony, and opposition to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovch's decision not to partner with the European Union and the following bloody protest led to his departure in February, 2014. Unmarked Russian troops moved into and gained control of Ukraine's Crimea by March, 2014. Back in Russia, Boris Nemtsov was collecting evidence that the so-called volunteeers fighting in Crimea were there at Putin's direction. On February 27, 2015, an assassin's bullet ended Nemtsov's life near Red Square. Unlike Nemtsov, Navalny was not as concerned about Putin's role in Crimea and the US and other countries' sanctions that followed. He seemed to take the annexation as a given. Putin turned his attention to providing support for Secretary Clinton's 2016 presidential rival. According to The Atlantic magazine's review (September, 2020) of Catherine Belton's book, PUTIN'S PEOPLE, Russian operatives had been tracking Donald Trump for 30 years on the chance that he some day would be useful. After a one-on-one 2018 meeting with President Putin in Helsinki, President Trump absolved Russia of interfering in his 2016 election. In 2017, Putin managed to eliminate Navalny as a political opponent by barring convicted criminals from running for office and by having both Alexei and his younger brother, Oleg, arrested on questionable charges. A judge suspended Alexei's five year sentence, but, in an unsuccessful attempt to put pressure on Alexei to end opposition protests, Oleg was sent to a penal colony for three and a half years. The brothers were reunited on June 29, 2020, shortly before Alexei fell ill in Siberia. Although Alexei was barred from running for office himself, his platform of anti-corruption and support for an increased standard of living, once considered only appealing to Russia's urban middle class, began to attract a wider audience of low-paid unskilled, agricultural and transportation workers, healthcare professionals and teachers in the public sector, some trade unions and those dissatisfied with the age increase for state pensions. By September, 2018, Putin's candidates for four regional elections were defeated. Viktor Zolotov, commander of Putin's 300,000 protective force, challenged Navalny to a duel, never fought. On August 20, 2020, after a month earlier Russia's Constitution was ready to declare Putin president for life, it was no surprise Navalny suddenly became seriously ill while returning from a meeting with opposition candidates for local elections in Siberia. Originally, it was thought Navalny was poisoned by drinking tea laced with a toxic substance. After he was transferred to Germany for treatment, doctors discovered a nerve agent probably was sprinkled in his underwear or socks. One final note, in 2017, President Putin arrived with flowers and champagne to show his respect on the 90th birthday of Crimean-born, human rights agitator, Lyudmila Alexeyeva. She pressed the case for Alexei Navalny and denounced Boris Nemtsov's "awful political killing."