Alexei Navalny: a profile in courage

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