Alexei Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most avid critics, was announced dead on Feb. 16, 2024 by the authorities in the Arctic Circle prison where he was serving a sentence under charges of alleged extremism and corruption. While the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear, they catalyzed a new wave of EU sanctions against Russian individuals and entities suspected of being involved, and raised important questions about his life and legacy.

Navalny is a Russian lawyer turned activist, who exposed corruption schemes across institutions and businesses in Russia. His investigations into financial scandals began in 2008 by infiltrating corporations as a shareholder and tracking inconsistencies in their communications and financial statements. These led him to evidence of larger corruption and embezzlement schemes, involving key members of Putin’s United Russia party. Prompted by these egregious findings, Navalny became the leader of the largest anti-government demonstrations in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. His work was entirely based in Russia and he never broadened the scope of his activism to non-nationalist projects.

Because his work was undermining the authority of the Russian government, Navalny was on Putin’s watchlist and was even poisoned on a plane leaving Siberia in August 2020. Following the incident, substantive evidence, including the testimony of a Russian agent from the Federal Security Service (FSB), proved that the poisoning was related to Navalny’s activism. He was treated in Germany until his eventual return to Russia in 2021.
One of his most notable investigations is presented in his 2021 documentary titled Putin’s Palace. In this film, Navalny reveals the connections between high-ranking politicians and businessmen from both Eastern and Western European countries and Russian oligarchs, whose schemes directly benefit Putin. His poisoning might have even been a ploy to prevent Navalny from releasing the film.

Upon his return in 2021, Navalny was arrested, speedily charged for “corruption” and “extremism” and subsequently sentenced to serve in a high-security prison in the Arctic Circle in northwestern Siberia. His sentence increased in duration with each hearing. The last review of his case added another 19 years to it.

Still, he became somewhat of a celebrity across all of Eastern Europe. His rise to prominence came against a shared backdrop of communism/socialism and rampant corruption across the Eastern Bloc. Ultimately, his work was considered by many of Eastern Europe’s liberals to be an all-encompassing insight into the politics of post-socialist countries. Navalny became a symbol of freedom of speech for Eastern European democrats. He was even awarded the 2021 European Parliament Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought. After surviving several attempts on his life and nearly 3 years in a high-security prison colony, he was even considered invincible. His death caused outrage, as expected, and every piece of information received by the Russian authorities regarding its causes will be treated as false. He was, in the eyes of many, the singular voice of truth about what is happening in Russia.

While Navalny’s work is worth praise and his activism is exemplary, he is not faultless. His nationalism might have been pointed in the right direction, but it also led him to extremes. In 2021, Amnesty International stripped Navalny of the “prisoner of conscience” status because he had not retracted several xenophobic and anti-migrant statements he made 15 years prior. The concerns were raised by a columnist of a pro-Kremlin publication, but were proven to be true by Amnesty and not only a plot to undermine Navalny. Many commentators on modern Russian politics have been cautious to crown Navalny a hero of democracy, because he really is not. His ultranationalist views amassed supporters of similar values and that has its dangers. In the last few years of his life, however, it seems that his beliefs had broadened. He apologized for some of the concerning remarks he had made at the beginning of his career, particularly concerning Georgia. Still, his overall work remained laser-focused on Russia and its well-being, with very little to say about the international positionality of the potential post-Putin government he was advocating for. In the contemporary world, these international considerations may hold as much importance as the establishment of a stable internal democracy. Among Eastern Europeans, however, his racist and ultranationalist sentiments remain largely unaccounted for and even excused. A reason for that might be that many recognize the ultranationalism as successful in opposing the existing authoritarian rule. After all, nationalist movements, radical or not, are the foundations of most European democracies.

Whether or not Navalny was to lead a sort of Spring of Nations in 21st century Russia is debatable. But what is certain is that he showed that it is possible to be a free thinker in any and every circumstance. If it were not for Navalny’s work, it would be hard to imagine what the opposition to the Ukrainian invasion would have looked like. Or at least its international coverage and reception. Navalny opened the doors to many activists from all of Eastern Europe to bravely critique corruption. He created an interest and, therefore, an avenue for investigation into the corruption prevalent in post-socialist countries that might at first glance seem ludicrous or impossible to conduct. Most importantly, he opened up a conversation which acknowledged that Russia can be two things at the same time: both a corrupt region and also one full of real hope for the future, potential to grow, and strong leaders to carry out brave plans for development. Yet the influence of Russia on Eastern Europe as a region broadened the scope of his work without his intention to do so, thus instilling a sense in Eastern European liberals that they have been empowered and represented as well by Navalny. It is no small feat to become a hero, despite your many flaws, across such a range of countries and cultures, but Navalny did it.