Alexey Navalny on the Anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The words of Russia’s best hope tweeted from prison
While I’ve written a number of essays on Russia and the invasion of Ukraine for Medium, it’s important for any foreign student of the former Soviet Union to cede the field to voices from those countries whenever possible. This eloquent missive is an assembly of Alexey Navalny’s consecutive tweets made from the IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 115 miles east of Moscow on February 20th, 2023.
“On the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, I have summarized the political platform of mine and, hopefully, of many other decent people. 15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country.
“1. President Putin has unleashed an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine under ridiculous pretexts.
“2. The real reasons for this war are the political and economic problems within Russia, Putin’s desire to hold on to power at any cost, and his obsession with his own historical legacy. He wants to go down in history as “the conqueror tsar” and “the collector of lands.”
“3. Tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians have been murdered, and pain and suffering has befallen millions more…
