Alexei Navalny was optimistic until the end. "The Putinist state is not sustainable," he wrote on 17 January this year. "One day, we will look at it, and it won't be there. Victory is inevitable."

Navalny was Vladimir PutinRussia's ruler since 2000. He is a strong opponent of the West.'s most prominent opponent. For over a decade he had exposed corruptionWhen someone abuses their power for personal gain. It often involves bribery. and tried to beat Putin's regime in elections. He was imprisoned as a result. There is evidence he was poisoned.¹ The Russian authorities declared he died from disease.

Navalny grew up in Obninsk, a small city 100km south-west of Moscow, to a Russian mother and a Ukrainian father.

He was politically active all his adult life. He joined the liberalLiberalism is a school of political thought that stresses individual liberty. Liberals believe that society should not try to impose values or behaviours on individuals but should be tolerant of different lifestyles. A leading exponent of liberal thought was the 19th-century English philosopher John Stuart Mill, the author of the classic work On Liberty. United Democratic Party in 2000 and became its chief of staff. 

But in 2007 he was expelled from the party for espousing nationalistA person who believes strongly that their country is better than all others. views. Navalny founded his own anti-immigrant movement Narod (The People).

It was not successful. He became a blogger. He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation and investigated the government and the corporations allied to them. He released a film of a vast, 100bn rubleThe Russian currency. It was the first currency in Europe to be decimalised, in 1704. (£775m) palace that he claimed belonged to Putin.

He led protests against Putin's party United Russia. In 2013 he registered to run as mayor of Moscow - but was arrested. He was released and received 27.3% of the vote.² He claimed the results were "fake".

Navalny planned to stand for the 2018 presidential election. Before that could happen he was convicted of corruption and barred from running for office. This helped turn him into a hero for many anti-Putin campaigners.

For his activism he was repeatedly imprisoned and physically attacked. In 2017, assailants sprayed him with green dye. He lost 80% of his sight in one eye. In 2019 he was imprisoned, then hospitalised with severe damage to his skin and eyes. 

While campaigning in 2020, he fell gravely ill. Doctors found traces of NovichokA group of nerve agents, most infamously used in the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK in 2018. in his body. Navalny managed to trick an FSBThe Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is a federal executive body responsible for counterintelligence, antiterrorism, and surveillance of the military. agent into admitting to rubbing the poison into his underwear.

In 2021 he was sentenced to two and a half years. He was sent to the Polar Wolf prison in the Arctic CircleAn imaginary line drawn around the most northern part of the world. It is one of the two very cold areas of the Earth near the poles. . His sentence was then increased by nine years, then 19.

The documentary Navalny explores the story of his poisoning. In the film, Navalny says: "If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong." His death as a hero could motivate opposition. 

Anti-Putin journalist Andrei Kolesnikov writes: "His efforts did not go unnoticed and they will certainly not be forgotten." 

Yet others are unsure. Navalny was popular in the West and at one time counted 700,000 supporters.³ But that is a tiny fragment of Russia's 143.8m population, many of whom live far from the big cities.

Today, Putin seems as strong as ever. Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya wants to run for president, but cannot enter the country without being arrested. No-one else has emerged with the same fire. Some fear the Navalny movement might have been just a moment.

Was Navalny's sacrifice worth it?

Yes: Navalny was right. That the Putin regime tried to silence him showed they were scared. He was an inspirational example. Future resistance groups can build on his work and succeed where he failed.

No: Putin won re-election this year with 88% of all votes, despite Navalny's death and the war in Ukraine. Navalny sacrificed himself for a dream of Russia that the majority of Russians do not share.

Or... History is written by the victors. If one day Putin's regime collapses and a liberal Russia emerges, he will seem a hero. But if the current government prevails he may be forgotten.