After recovering in Berlin from reported Novichok poisoning, opposition figure Alexei Navalny has been arrested upon his return to Russia. Supporters say he is a political prisoner. Juri Rescheto reports from Moscow.
An arrest warrant instead of flowers. With barely enough time to leave the plane, Alexei Navalny was taken into police custody. It was a cold reception for one of the country’s own citizens even by Russian standards; a citizen that almost lost his life the last time he was on Russian soil.
Navalny wasn’t the only one having to contend with the cold. Political activists, international journalists and Russian police officers had to put up with a cold snap of temperatures below freezing while they waited for Navalny. Dozens of police vehicles and extra metal fencing helped turn the Vnukovo airport in the South of Moscow into an impenetrable fortress.
The press was denied entry into the airport’s arrival hall. A public event to meet Navalny at the airport that was organized online was quickly declared illegal.
Countless activists and opposition figures were warned to stay away from Vnukovo. And many of Navalny’s confidants received personal visits at home from Russian police officers.
The government did its utmost to attract as little attention as possible for the return of the “Berlin patient,” as he is often called by the Kremlin. Just minutes before the plane’s scheduled landing, authorities redirected the flight to a different airport outside the Russian capital.
But their efforts appear to have done nothing to quell admiration for Navalny, whose supporters are calling him a hero — all the more so after his arrest.
A ‘fearless politician’ who disturbs Putin
For the independent political scientist Kirill Rogov, Navalny’s return is a “brave step.” He says the 44-year-old opposition leader is a “fearless politician,” whose arrest the Kremlin had long avoided.
“Putin is convinced that opposition figures can increase their political influence manyfold while in prison,” Rogov says.
Navalny was reportedly poisoned last August on a flight in Siberia with the neurotoxin Novichok. In a surprise move, he was allowed to be flown to Germany, where he was treated in Berlin’s Charité hospital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly gave the green light for Navalny’s treatment in Germany.
The fact that Navalny has nevertheless been arrested after such a high-profile health emergency is a sign that Putin is afraid of him, Rogov tells DW.
“Navalny has developed a following. Outside of Russia too. And that’s exactly what the Kremlin doesn’t like. It doesn’t want an opposition politician that 70 or 80% of Russians know, and who they can’t control.” But in prison, the Kremlin hopes, Navalny may be easier to control.
Opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov says the Kremlin has miscalculated when it comes to Navalny’s arrest.
In a DW interview, he compared Navalny with Nelson Mandela, the South African revolutionary jailed during apartheid who later became president. “Mandela ascended to power despite his detention. The same thing will surely happen with Navalny. But then the Kremlin will be at the world’s mercy: ‘Look! First we tried to kill him, and when that didn’t work, we put him in jail!’”
A range of charges against Navalny
It is unclear how long Navalny will remain behind bars. Officially, he stands accused of violating conditions of a suspended sentence for a 2014 fraud conviction, which international observers have criticized as unfounded.
Russian police say Navalny failed to properly register his stay in Germany with them as required by his sentence. A court must now decide if the rest of Navalny’s suspended sentence should be served in prison. In addition, new charges were levelled against him in December. He now stands accused of embezzling donations to his anti-corruption foundation. Critics say it is yet another attempt to silence the politician.
Moscow denies all involvement in Navalny’s poisoning. Instead, Kremlin officials have repeatedly raised accusations of a western-backed plot and have refused to investigate the attack.
During his yearly press conference in December 2020, Putin responded to a question about Navalny’s poisoning with sarcasm: “Who needs him? If we had wanted to do that, then we would have seen it through to the end.”
His comments came after Navalny’s allegations that a “killer unit” of Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, was responsible for the attempt on his life.
Navalny also says he called one of his alleged assassins under a false name and that the FSB agent admitted during the call to being involved in the poisoning.
