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☆ Navalny’s widow accuses Putin of ‘satanism’ and breaking ‘both human and God’s’ law
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Darya Tarasova | Joshua Berlinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The widow of the late dissident Alexey Navalny said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is engaging in “satanism” by refusing to release her husband’s body. “It’s satanism.”The video, titled “Putin’s fake faith,” was published nine days after Navalny’s death. You are breaking every law, both human and God’s.”The Kremlin denied having anything to do with Navalny’s death. The Russian prison service said he “felt unwell after a walk” and “almost immediately” lost consciousness. The elder Navalnaya has been in Salekhard, the Siberian town where Navalny’s body is being kept in a morgue, shortly after her son’s death.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Alexey, ” Yulia Navalnaya, ”, ” Navalnaya, “, Navalny, Lyudmila Navalnaya, Navalnaya, Navalny’s, Yulia Navalnaya, “ Putin, Saint Nicholas Organizations: CNN, Putin, Kremlin, Russian Orthodox Church Locations: ”, Russia, Salekhard, Russian

☆ Documentary Download: Ukrainian Stories of Sustenance and Strife
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Alissa Wilkinson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Veselka, the Ukrainian diner on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is one of the few restaurants in the city that truly deserves to be called venerable, even iconic. Veselka has also become a center for New York’s support for embattled Ukrainians, as shown in Michael Fiore’s new documentary, “Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World.” (David Duchovny narrates.) Veselka’s third-generation proprietor, Jason Birchard, is of Ukrainian ancestry, and many of the staff are from the country as well. The film (in theaters now) starts as a fun story about a New York institution, and its tone is resolutely hopeful and convivial. I wrote about “Navalny,” Daniel Roher’s Oscar-winning documentary that covers his opposition to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, and thought of other films that help illuminate the war in Ukraine years into the struggle.

Persons: Veselka, Michael Fiore’s, David Duchovny, Jason Birchard, Birchard, Aleksei A, “, ” Daniel Roher’s Oscar, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Center of Locations: America, New York, Russian, Ukraine

☆ Putin says he gets why Biden called him 'crazy'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin a "crazy SOB," but the Russian leader doesn't seem too mad about it. President Joe Biden might've called Vladimir Putin a "crazy SOB," but the Russian leader doesn't appear to be that mad about it. AdvertisementBiden had called Putin the name during a fundraiser in California on Wednesday night, per The New York Times. "We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin, and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict," Biden told donors. Putin called Biden a "politician of the old formation" who is "more experienced, more predictable."

Persons: Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, doesn't, Putin, Trump, Joe Biden might've, Pavel Zarubin, Biden, Zarubin, Donald Trump, Alexey Navalny Organizations: Biden, House, New York Times, Russia, Business Insider Locations: Russia, California, Zarubin, Ukraine

☆ Trump coopts Navalny’s legacy as a smokescreen for his own legal morass
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Alexey Navalny died a political martyr after returning home to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal rule. But that’s not stopping Donald Trump from coopting his heroic legacy to suggest false equivalence with his own legal troubles. He offered a tempered tribute to Navalny, before returning to his own false claims of political persecution. There is no world in which Trump and Navalny can be compared. “Instead, Trump said Navalny’s death made him realize how bad America is.

Persons: CNN — Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s, Donald Trump, Putin, Trump, Navalny, “, …, ” Trump, Joe Biden, “ Trump, ”, he’s, predecessor’s thrall, Biden, Trump’s, CNN’s MJ Lee, Alexey Navalny, ” Biden, America, can’t Trump, Mike Johnson, Volodymyr Zelensky’s, Russia’s, Zelensky, it’s Organizations: CNN, Fox News, Russia, Communist, Fox, Trump, Kremlin, Biden, Republicans, Senate, NATO, White House, Soviet Union, Saturday Locations: Russian, Russia, West Coast, Ukraine, Moscow, Trump’s, America, Avdiivka, Washington

☆ Yulia Navalnaya is raising hopes for a renewed Russian opposition. She will face huge challenges
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Clare Sebastian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

On Monday, just three days after her husband’s death, Yulia Navalnaya rebranded herself as a political force, vowing to pick up where her husband left off. And yet for those left, Navalny’s death has created some momentum to keep trying. The man who put Nadezhdin forward, Civic Initiative party leader Andrey Nechaev, a former economy minister in the 1990s, denies there’s no functioning opposition left. On Saturday, the Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielus Landsbergis posted a photo of himself with Khodorkovsky, Kasparov, and another exiled former Russian opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov. “We shouldn’t overestimate the spread of opposition ideas, opposition moods in Russian society,” says Bondarev.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, “ You’re, Navalny’s, Yulia, Yulia Navalnaya, ”, “, Putin, Alexey, ” Yulia Navalnaya, Boris Bondarev, ” Bondarev, Navalnaya, ” Navalny, Grigory Yavlinsky, Yavlinsky, Ilya Yashin, Navalny, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov, Russia’s, Boris Nadezhdin, Andrey Nechaev, Nechaev, Boris Nemtsov’s, Evgeny Feldman, ” Khodorkovsky, Gabrielus Landsbergis, Khodorkovsky, Kasparov, Dmitry Gudkov, …, Putin’s Organizations: CNN, CNN Films, Navalnaya, Munich Security, Corruption, Putin, Civic Initiative Locations: Tomsk, Germany, Russian, Ukraine, Brussels, Russia, British, Moscow, Kirov , Russia, Lithuanian

☆ US divisions over Putin’s Russia present grave global implications
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —US politics is now split by a fault line over Russia that could have far graver global implications even than condemning Ukraine to defeat after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Trump has also not repudiated his recent comment that he’d invite Russia to invade NATO nations that fell short of non-binding targets on defense spending. Aside from the mysterious hold that Putin appears to exert over Trump, the ex-president’s hostility towards Ukraine is easily explainable. Opposing aid to Ukraine is also an almost perfect issue for the ex-president and his allies in the GOP primary. These pressures weigh on Republican lawmakers as they cast increasingly tough votes on Ukraine aid.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Donald Trump, Trump, Mike Johnson –, Johnson, Joe Biden, Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia’s, ” Biden, Zelensky, –, Alexey Navalny, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Putin’s, Putin, Trump’s, Kevin McCarthy’s, hasn’t, Ohio Sen, JD Vance, Ukraine “, Vladimir Putin, ” Vance, Barack Obama, “, ”, Vance, Nikki Haley, Haley, Sen, Pete Ricketts, Ricketts, ’ ” Ricketts, ‘, ’ ”, It’s, Mitch McConnell Organizations: CNN, Donald Trump Republicans, NATO, Trump, GOP, Senate, Republican, Soviet, European Union, Russian, Republican Party, Republicans, Munich, Ohio, United, Chicago Council, Global Affairs, Trump Republicans, Ukraine Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Avdiivka, Russian, Kremlin, America, United States, Munich, China, “, Ohio, Crimea, East Asia, Beijing, Moscow, Iran, North Korea, we’re, ’ ” The Nebraska, Soviet Union

☆ Navalny’s mother asks Putin to release her son’s body in video filmed outside Arctic penal colony
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Joshua Berlinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Alexey Navalny’s family has made a direct plea to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the release of the Russian dissident’s body, five days after he died behind bars in a penal colony. Standing in the snow outside the facility where her son was imprisoned, Lyudmila Navalnaya addressed Putin directly, saying she has not been told where Navalny’s body is. Navalny’s lawyer tried to call a number on the building’s door, but he was told the body was not there. Navalny’s lawyer tried to call a number on the building’s door, but he was told the body was not there. Two days later, Navalnaya was rebuffed in person at the morgue, Yarmish said, adding that staff refused to say whether the body was inside.

Persons: CNN — Alexey Navalny’s, Vladimir Putin, Lyudmila Navalnaya, Putin, ” Navalnaya, Navalny, Navalny “, ”, Navalnaya, Kira Yarmish, Yarmish, Navalny’s, Novichok, Yulia Navalnaya, “, Dmitry Peskov, Alexey, Don’t, Oleg, ministry’s, Oleg Navalny Organizations: CNN, Staff, European Union Foreign Affairs, EU, Munich Locations: Russian, Putin’s, Soviet, Russia, Germany

☆ In Navalny's last letters, the Russian dissident called Trump's agenda for a second term 'really scary'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

AdvertisementAlexey Navalny, a dissident and the political nemesis of Russian President Vladimir Putin, spent the past few years of his life behind bars but still managed to stay connected to the outside world. In a letter sent to a friend, a photographer named Evgeny Feldman, Navalny said former President Donald Trump's agenda for a second term was "really scary," according to the Times. He said if President Joe Biden were to have a health issue, "Trump will become president," adding: "Doesn't this obvious thing concern the Democrats?" The journalist Sergei Parkhomenko said he received a letter from Navalny on February 13, a few days before Navalny's death was announced. Trump, for his part, didn't mention Navalny in the days after his death, despite condemnations from other leaders who directly blamed Putin.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin, who'd, Evgeny Feldman, Navalny, Donald Trump's, Joe Biden, Trump, Feldman, didn't, Sergei Parkhomenko, Parkhomenko, Chekhov, Putin, Alexei Navalny Organizations: The New York Times, Times, Trump, Business, IK, The Times, Facebook, Prosecutors Locations: Moscow, Navalny, Russia

☆ Inside the deadly Russian Arctic prison where Alexey Navalny spent his last days
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Deceased Russian dissident Alexey Navalny spent his final days in one of Russia's harshest prisons. Located near the Arctic Circle, the IK-3 prison colony is infamous for its terrible conditions. AdvertisementNavalny might have joked about prison life, but the reality of life behind bars was brutalA satellite image of the IK-3 prison colony where Navalny was detained. While Navalny did crack a couple of dark jokes about prison life, inmates in Russia's penal colonies often have to contend with brutal living conditions. Khulilidze told Life that his beating lasted about half an hour and he wasn't given any medical assistance after that.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, —, Navalny, Igor Kalyapin, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Vera Savina, Santa, I'm, Tatiana Stanovaya, Stanovaya, Meduza, Antonina Favorskaya, Mikho, Khulilidze, It's, Joe Biden, Jens Stoltenberg, Biden Organizations: IK, Service, Moscow Times, Getty, Prison Service, Maxar Technologies, Reuters, US State Department, State Department, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, BBC, Russia's Federal Prison Service, NATO Locations: Moscow, AFP, Russia, Santa Claus, IK, Russian, Russia's

☆ The US is almost out of options to make Russia pay for Navalny's death
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewWhen President Joe Biden addressed the sudden death of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny last week, he had no doubt where the blame lay. But where Biden sounded less certain, was on how the Russian president should pay for the alleged crime. For instance, the US has sought to cut off Russia's export of oil and gas, a trade that is at the heart of the Russian economy. Putin has placed the Russian economy on a war footing, with 6% of GDP spent on arms and ammunition production, meaning that US attempts to seriously constrict Russian weapons production have failed. And there remain options open to the US and other countries in the West if they choose to punish Russia even further.

Persons: —, Joe Biden, Alexey Navalny, Biden, Navalny, Putin, Donald Trump, Elisabeth Braw, Edward Lucas Organizations: Service, Business, Kremlin, New York Times, Munich Security, US, Republicans, Treasury, Atlantic Council, Observer, Times Radio Locations: Russian, Russia, Ukraine, India, China

☆ Opinion: Alexey Navalny, one man who stood up to a dictatorship
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. “In his courageous and too short life,” wrote Russia scholar Daniel Treisman, “Navalny became a symbol of hope for the younger generations of his compatriots. “He never gave up on the prospect of what he called ‘the beautiful Russia of the future,’” Treisman noted. “For a ‘beautiful Russia of the future’ to emerge in coming years, Putin must lose the war he started. Navalny understood this.”“Navalny’s death represents the extinguishing of all hope for Russia’s turnaround,” wrote Sasha Vasilyuk.

Persons: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Stalin “, “, ”, you’ve, Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s, Navalny, fearlessly, Putin, Daniel Treisman, “ Navalny, Navalny’s, ’ ” Treisman, Sasha Vasilyuk, Alexey Navalny’s, Peter Bergen, Andrei Sakharov, ” Putin, Bergen, Nick Anderson, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, authoritarians, Bill Bramhall, James Mattis, ” Peter Bergen, Frida Ghitis, Fidel Castro’s playbook, Patrick Mahomes, Andy “, Amy Bass, New York Democrat Tom Suozzi, George Santos, ” Suozzi, CNN Suozzi didn’t, Biden, isn’t, Long, Max Burns, ” “, Alejandro Mayorkas, ” “ Suozzi, Burns, Robert Hur’s, Norm Eisen, Richard Painter, Joshua Kolb, Hur, ” Joel Pett, Lawrence C, Levy, Julian Zelizer, Dean Obeidallah, Mark Dent, Dent, Saw, Clay Jones, David Orentlicher, ” Orentlicher, Will Cooper, Fani, Willis, Nathan, Wade, ” “ Willis, Antony Blinken, Batniji, Blinken, Fatah, Hussein, Don’t, David Horsey, Agency Jill Filipovic, Lynda Gorov, Taylor Swift, Jim Parrott, Mark Zandi, Brigid Schulte, Yuliya, Kara Alaimo, Frankie de la, Jackie Robinson’s, Jon Stewart’s, Jon Stewart, Matt Wilson, Jon Stewart skewered Trump, Bill Carter, Stewart, ” “ Stewart Organizations: CNN, IK, Moscow Times, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook, Soviet, Tribune, Agency, Republican, Senate, Agency Former US Defense, Trump, , Kansas City Chiefs, Chiefs, nab, New, New York Democrat, Democratic, GOP, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, Super Bowl, Kansas, West Bank Locations: Soviet, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, New York, Washington, Georgia, ,, York, Glen Cove, Joel Osteen’s, Houston, Kansas City, America, ”, Kansas, Gaza, San Francisco, Israel, Iran

☆ Jailed Putin foe Alexei Navalny confirmed dead with family calling for body to be returned
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A photo of Alexei Navalny and candles are seen in front of the Russian consulate in Krakow, Poland on February 16, 2024. A spokesperson for Putin dissident Alexei Navalny confirmed his death on Saturday, after Russian media reported his demise on Friday, citing the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where he was imprisoned. On Friday, the IC had said on Telegram that it is organizing a procedural check into Navalny's demise, in a Google-translated post. "We demand that Alexey Navalny's body be handed over to his family immediately," Yarmysh said Saturday. Navalny's demise and Moscow's ongoing full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, soon to observe its second year later this month, have dominated conversations at the Munich Security Conference this weekend.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, Yarmysh, Alexey Navalny's, Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Putin's, Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Organizations: Russia, Munich Security, MSC Locations: Russian, Krakow, Poland, Salekhard, Russia, Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called on world leaders not to abandon his country, citing the recent death of a Russian dissident as a reminder that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would continue to test the international order, and pushing back against the idea of a negotiated resolution to the war. Mr. Zelensky, speaking on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, said that if Ukraine lost the war to Russia, it would be “catastrophic” not only for Kyiv, but for other nations as well. “Please do not ask Ukraine when the war will end,” he said. “Ask yourself why is Putin still able to continue it.”The two topics that have loomed over nearly every discussion at the yearly meeting of world leaders have been Russia and the potential weakening of trans-Atlantic relations, amid an increasingly pessimistic assessment of Kyiv’s ability to beat Moscow.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir V, Putin, ” Organizations: Munich Security, Kyiv, Moscow Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Russia

☆ Opinion | The Best Case for Ukraine Aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The first year of the war in Ukraine seemed to vindicate Russia hawks. The second year of war has been kinder to realists and doves. Russia, as in many wars before, seems stronger in a grinding conflict than it did in the initial thrusts. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian counteroffensive of spring and summer failed: A year ago there was still hope that a Russian retreat would turn into a rout, but since then stalemate has ruled the front. The changed situation has created a division in the hawkish argument, visible as the U.S. Congress wrangles over further aid to Ukraine.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Russia’s, Aleksei Navalny, Thom Tillis, he’ll, Mike Turner Organizations: U.S . Congress, Republican, Ukraine, NATO, Capitol, Russian Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Ukrainian, North Carolina, American, Ohio

☆ Navalny death is a pre-election gambit from Putin, anti-Kremlin activist Bill Browder says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Matt Clinch | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Anti-Kremlin activist Bill Browder said he believes Alexei Navalny's death was intended as a message to political opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of elections next month. Dissident Navalny, who died Friday, had been serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges of extremism in Russia, which he vehemently denied. World leaders reacted with dismay and suspicion to the death, with U.S. President Joe Biden saying "Putin is responsible." Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday said the West's reaction to Navalny's death was "self-exposing," given that no forensic medical examination had been made available at the time. Browder, the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management and a friend of Navalny, also accused the Russian leader of being behind the death.

Persons: Bill Browder, Alexei Navalny's, Vladimir Putin, Navalny, Joe Biden, Putin, Browder, Alexei Navalny, CNBC's Silvia Amaro Saturday Organizations: Kremlin, U.S, Hermitage Capital Management, Munich Security Conference Locations: Russia

☆ What Navalny Can Teach Americans About Bravery - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Nicholas Kristof | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has just become even more bleak and soulless with the reported death in an Arctic prison of Aleksei Navalny, the 47-year-old dissident who showed immense bravery and humor as he tried to bring democracy to his homeland. Navalny’s strength, resilience and courage contrast with the fecklessness of so many Americans dealing with Putin. From Donald Trump to Tucker Carlson, a remarkable number of American leaders and their mouthpieces roll over before the Russian president. “Why do Trump and his congressional enablers want to further appease this Russian tyrant?” Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, asked after the news broke of Navalny’s death. I hope Navalny’s example will fortify Americans and Europeans alike, for despite all our resources we have not shown a sliver of the strength that he did.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Aleksei Navalny, Putin, Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Trump, Dick Durbin Locations: Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Russian, Illinois

☆ Navalny’s Wife Makes Dramatic Appearance After Reports of His Death
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just hours after her husband was reported dead, Yulia Navalnaya made a dramatic, surprise appearance at a gathering of world leaders in Munich on Friday. Conference organizers quickly wrapped up a session with Vice President Kamala Harris and turned the microphone over to Ms. Navalnaya. “We cannot believe Putin and his government,” Ms. Navalnaya told the audience. They will be brought to justice, and this day will come soon.”Ms. Navalnaya spoke clearly and calmly, with remarkable composure, her face etched with evident pain but under complete control. Standing at the lectern, she clasped her hands in front of her and stared straight ahead as if willing herself to focus on her message.

Persons: Yulia Navalnaya, Vladimir V, Putin, ”, Aleksei A, Navalny, Kamala Harris, Navalnaya, ” Ms Organizations: Munich Security Conference, Conference Locations: Munich, Russia, Russian

☆ The wild life of Alexey Navalny, who challenged Putin and appears to have died in prison
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( James Pasley | Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Russian dissident Alexey Navalny became President Vladimir Putin's biggest opponent. On Friday, Russian officials said he had died suddenly in prison. AdvertisementAlexey Navalny, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has died in prison, according to Russian officials. In 2020, Navalny almost died after he was poisoned with a nerve agent, allegedly by Russian agents. Russia's prison agency said on Friday that he had died suddenly.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin's, —, Vladimir Putin, Crooks, Putin, Navalny Organizations: Service, Putin Locations: United Russia, Russian, Germany, Russia

The reported death in prison of Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent political rival, sent shockwaves throughout Russia and the world on Friday – even if some were unsurprised by the outcome. “There is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the consequence of something Putin and his thugs did,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in remarks at the White House on Friday. The Latest Photos From Ukraine View All 91 ImagesHere is what you need to know about Navalny, his death and Russia’s handling of political prisoners. Who Was Alexei Navalny? Navalny later participated in several mass protests and lobbed criticisms more directly at Putin and other Kremlin officials.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Navalny, Joe Biden, “, ” Konstantin Sonin, ” Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalnaya, ”, Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s, Evan Gershkovich, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Alexei Gorinov, Maria Ponomarenko – Organizations: White, overdevelopment, Associated Press, Reuters, Washington Post, University of Chicago, Ukraine, Munich, Russia’s Federal, Service, Nenets Autonomous, Tass, Wall Street Locations: Russian, Russia, U.S, Moscow, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Russia’s, Nenets, Nenets Autonomous District, Kharp, Bucha

☆ Opinion: In Navalny’s death, echoes of Stalin
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Peter Bergen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —We don’t yet know the exact details of jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny’s death, reported Friday by the Russian prison service — and we may never find the precise truth. When the Wall fell, Putin was a KGB officer in Dresden in what was then East Germany. And the most dangerous thing a Russian leader can do is lose a war as the Romanovs did in World War I, which helped spark the Russian revolution in 1917. By contrast with Gorbachev, Stalin ruled with an iron fist and was critical to the Allies winning World War II. How will news of Navalny’s death be received in Russia?

Persons: Peter Bergen, ”, Alexey Navalny’s, Kamala Harris, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, Navalny, Andrei Sakharov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Mikhail Gorbachev, ” Gorbachev, quagmire, Alexis de Tocqueville, Gorbachev’s, Gorbachev, Stalin, Tucker Carlson’s, Boris Nadezhdin Organizations: New, Arizona State University, Apple, Spotify, Trump Administration, CNN, Munich Security, Human Rights, Soviet Union, Soviet, Kremlin, Great, Literature Locations: New America, Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Soviet, Eastern Europe, Dresden, East Germany, Afghanistan, Russian

☆ Analysis: Death of leading critic Navalny is a reminder of Putin’s paranoia
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

It is the why that is already the largest question, after the untimely death of Alexey Navalny. And with his death, Putin is in a riskier position. The Prigozhin death, critics of the Kremlin, had felt, was to some degree inevitable. He has long been a Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty ImagesNavalny’s death is a reminder of Putin’s paranoia. Does it speak of a man burdened by worry, and happy to endure the global outrage of Navalny’s death if it removes the tiniest possible risks to his rule?

Persons: Alexey Navalny, Putin, Navalny, Kamala Harris, Alexei Navalny, Vera Savina, Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Berezovsky, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, ”, Alexander Nemenov, Putin’s Organizations: Germany CNN, Kremlin, Munich Security, NATO, IK, Police, Getty, Putin Locations: Munich, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, AFP, London, Moscow, Putin’s

☆ Biden Condemns ‘Putin and His Thugs’ for Navalny’s Death as Allies ‘Panic’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden blamed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia personally on Friday for the reported death of the imprisoned Russian dissident Aleksei A. Navalny, and cited the case in pressing House Republicans to approve military aid to Ukraine in its war with Moscow. “Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Mr. Biden said in a televised statement from the White House. “Putin is responsible. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world.”Asked if Mr. Navalny had been assassinated, Mr. Biden said the United States did not have a full understanding of the circumstances. “The answer is, we don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Persons: Biden, Vladimir V, Putin, Aleksei A, Navalny, ” Mr, “ Putin, Mr, ” Organizations: “ Locations: Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Moscow, United States

NEW YORK (AP) — Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s former White House adviser and his son-in-law, defended on Tuesday his business dealings after leaving government with the Saudi crown prince who was implicated in the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. After Kushner left the White House, he started a private equity firm that received a reported $2 billion investment from the sovereign wealth fund controlled by Prince Mohammed, drawing scrutiny from Democrats. He dismissed the idea of there being any concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest in his business deal. He also defended Prince Mohammed when asked if he believed U.S. intelligence reports that the prince approved the 2018 killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist. Kushner said he had not seen the intelligence report released in 2021 that concluded the crown prince likely approved Khashoggi’s killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Persons: — Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s, Jamal Khashoggi, Kushner, Trump, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prince Mohammed, ” Kushner, Khashoggi, “, ”, Joe Biden Organizations: House, Washington Post, Saudi Arabia’s Crown, White, Nintendo, Microsoft, Trump Locations: Saudi, Miami, America, Istanbul, Florida

☆ Putin hints at swapping detained Wall Street Journal reporter for Russian prisoner
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said "an agreement can be reached" over the release of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, signaling he is open to an exchange for a Russian prisoner serving time in Germany. "At the end of the day, it does not make any sense to keep [Gershkovich] in prison in Russia. We want the U.S. Special Services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing. We are ready to talk," Putin said, repeatedly indicating that negotiations over the journalist's future were underway. The Wall Street Journal strongly denies the charges of espionage levied against Gershkovich, a Russia correspondent at the paper, and says he was in Yekaterinburg on a legitimate reporting trip before he was imprisoned in March 2023.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Putin, Putin's, Tucker Carlson, Putin, Vadim Krasikov, Zelimkhan Organizations: Street, Fox News, Kremlin, Russian Federation, U.S . Special Services, Gershkovich Locations: Russia, Lefortovsky, Moscow, Germany, Ukraine, U.S, Russian, Chechen, Berlin, Yekaterinburg

☆ Bill Ackman and Mark Zuckerberg Fail to Land Candidates on Harvard’s Board of Overseers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Anemona Hartocollis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It’s hard to get into Harvard, even if you’ve done it before. Mark Zuckerberg, head of Meta, and Bill Ackman, head of the Pershing Square hedge fund, discovered as much, in their failed push to get dissident candidates onto the Harvard Board of Overseers, one of the university’s two governing bodies. The candidates — a slate of four backed by Mr. Ackman and one candidate backed by Mr. Zuckerberg — said on Friday that they had not collected enough petition signatures to get on the April ballot for election to the board. “We are disappointed but greatly appreciate all the support,” Zoe Bedell, an assistant U.S. attorney, who ran on the Ackman slate, said in a statement on Friday. “We look forward to trying again next year.”Their failure raised the question of how much support existed for Mr. Ackman’s persistent campaign against Harvard’s leadership over the past few months.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Ackman, Ackman, Zuckerberg —, ” Zoe Bedell, ”, Ackman’s Organizations: Harvard, Meta, Mr Locations: Pershing, U.S

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