Is there a braver guy than Alexei Navalny? I'm certain he wasn't oblivious to the dangers he faced by returning to Russia, so putting himself in harm's way was a courageous thing to do. Aside from the attempted poisoning of this opposition leader with the nerve agent Novichok, perhaps the most fascinating sequence in the story involves Navalny personally contacting Russian operatives who had a hand in seeing him dead. The admission by Kurdyatsev via phone was chilling in its detail and a confession that the world ought to embrace to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin. The sight of citizens and journalists at the Moscow airport being arrested because of their support for Navalny tells you all you need to know about how dictatorships operate and how they squelch opposition. Upon last count, according to articles I've read, at least thirty-nine influential Russian politicians, writers and critics of the Russian President have gone missing or dead, many by 'suicide' or by falling out of windows of high rises. More high profile than most, Alexei Navalny currently resides in prison on a twenty-year sentence. No telling what may happen over the next twenty years.

Addendum posted 2-20-2024 **** Perhaps inevitable, Russian opposition activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny died while serving a 20 year sentence on February 16, 2023.