Opposition in Russia is almost entirely silenced. Almost, but not entirely. Alexei Navalny – and his wife Yulia – are a profile of defiance. After recovering from an attempted assassination attempt in a Berlin hospital, Alexei and Yulia made the choice to return to Moscow. His opposition would not be marginalised by exile. They were separated; Alexei arrested as soon as they landed. Last week he was sentenced to nine more years in prison. The courage of their decision to return and his stubborn dissent from prison is an example of leadership, suffering and hope.
Just over a year ago, we published ‘The Navalny Show’, an episode of the Slow Newscast in which John Kampfner investigated how Navalny exposed and mocked the corruption of Vladimir Putin. Today, we follow up on that thread with ‘The Trials of Alexei Navalny’ – what he endures and what is to come for Putin’s determined opponent.
Since we officially launched three years ago there’s rarely been a dull moment. We’ve broken new ground with our investigations and all of our coverage has been made immensely richer and better informed thanks to the input from you – our members. So to say thank you, we’re holding a tea party this Saturday from 2pm at our newsroom in Fitzrovia, central London. We’ll talk about what we’ve learned about journalism and the world; as with all birthdays, we’ll look forward to the year to come. And, we’ll say thank you, with drinks and, of course, cake. Whether it’s in person or digitally, we’d love you to join us.
This week’s ThinkIns:
- Why does the property sector give so much to political parties? Tonight at 6.30pm London time.
- Has Covid-19 helped or hindered the responsible business agenda? Tomorrow at 1pm.
- Foreign aid: Is the 0.7 per cent virtue signalling, or value for money? Tomorrow at 6.30pm.
- We’re back on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday for our weekly Open News meeting, 6.30pm.
- We’re following up on our recent Slow Newscast, ‘Spiking: An injection of fear’ with Unspiked: what did we learn from the “epidemic” that never was? Thursday at 6.30pm.
Have a very good week.
Allbest.
James Harding
Editor & co-founder