Will the Real Alexi Navalny Please Stand-up

 In 2022, a documentary film entitled 'Navalny, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Film. The film depicted the latter part of the life of Alexi Navalny, the Russian politician and opposition Party leader to Russian President Putin.

Navalny died last Friday while incarcerated in a Russian penal colony. He was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism, he was 47. His official cause of death was determined to be sudden death syndrome. 

Navalny was considered to be one of Vladimir Putin's major political critics and had been so since the early 2000's. In 2021, after returning to Russia from the U.S. (where he had been residing) he was tried and imprisoned.

In the U.S. and Western nations, Navalny was considered to be an anti-Kremlin and outspoken Putin adversary who wanted to enact reforms against a corrupt Russian government. This viewpoint is what is portrayed in the 2022 documentary, which begins after Navalny was poisoned and returned to Russia for trial. The film premiered at the Sundance Festival and then went on to win an Oscar.

Navalny's wife, speaking at the Oscar presentation.

But. there is more to this story. It's a bit more complicated. The Western press would have us believe that Navalny was a great anti-hero and political activist who spent his life as a crusader for the Russian people. Since 2005, Navalny was active in anti-government protests within Russia, primarily in Moscow. Then, in 2013 he received a suspended sentence for embezzlement of political contributions. He then ran for the mayoral race in Moscow and placed second. In 2014 he received another suspended sentence for embezzlement.

Navalny (on left) attending the Yale World Fellows Training Program

In 2010, Navalny received a scholarship to Yale University's World Fellows Program, an instruction program which teaches individuals how to get elected and govern in foreign countries. Navalny's scholarship to the Program was sponsored and funded by the U.S Central Intelligence Agency. After he finished his work at the WFP he returned to Russia and ran for Mayor of Moscow. The general plan was to get Navalny elected Mayor and use that office as a stepping-stone for higher office, mainly the Presidency. It seems there was no plan B. 

It seems illogical that Putin, who has a 90% approval rating would bother with Navalny let alone have him killed - he just wasn't that big a threat. 

During the 2020 U.S. Presidential race Navalny endorsed Bernie Sanders; however, he has always been a fervent anti-immigrationist and was widely known to despise the Muslim community in Chechnya. His campaigns were, for the most part, funded by post-Soviet capitalists and, more than likely, the CIA; however, his support within Russia is vastly overstated by Western governments and the press - as his popular support was only about 3%.

Obviously, his death was unexpected, but it had been reported earlier this year that Navalny had decided to go on a hunger strike as he wanted to be transferred to a less secure and better located prison and he was in poor health since being poisoned. 

Like many sagas, the Navalny story will really never be fully aired. Conspiracies will develop and misinformation and disinformation will shroud the truth.

By: Jim Lavorato, Entertainment Equipment Corporation