Revisiting the Documentary, "Navalny"

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4.6 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Russia's jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has died in prison. Navalny had been living behind bars since shortly after landing in Moscow in January of 2021. He had been returning home following months of recovery in Europe, after he fell violently sick on a flight between Siberia and Moscow.

In the months following Navalny’s poisoning, Christo Grozev, former lead Russia investigator at Bellingcat, was stuck in Vienna with filmmaker Daniel Roher. The two had just been booted from Ukraine, where they had been trying to film an investigation. Grozev suddenly had a lot of time on his hands, a laptop, and a fresh stack of data from the Russian black market so naturally he began to investigate who was behind the poisoning.

Daniel Roher directed the documentary “Navalny,” which portrays the story of the close collaboration between Navalny, his team, and Grozev, in the hunt for the dissident’s would-be killers. Last year, Brooke spoke to Roher and Grozev about the making of the documentary, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

This is a segment from our February 10, 2023 show, Hide and Seek.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Brooke Gladstone with on the media's midweek podcast.
0:05.0	Russia's jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in prison according to the prison officials there in Russia.
0:13.0	The outspoken Putin critic had been serving a 19-year sentence for extremism and fraud charges,
0:19.0	widely considered to be politically motivated.
0:22.0	Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny's death.
0:26.0	Navalny had been living behind bars since shortly after landing in Moscow in January of 2021. He was returning home following in
0:33.3	he was returning home following months of recovery in Germany after he fell violently sick on a flight
0:40.0	between Siberia and Moscow.
0:42.0	Mr. Navalny is in a coma after a suspected poisoning.
0:46.0	He was flown to Germany after initially being treated at a Siberian hospital.
0:50.0	His supporters and his wife say he was intentionally poisoned.
0:54.0	Alexi Navalny survived, thin and gaunt, in a German hospital bed.
0:59.0	In the months following Navalny's poisoning,
1:02.0	Christo Grozep, former lead Russia investigator at Bellingcat,
1:06.4	was stuck in Vienna with filmmaker Daniel Rohr.
1:09.8	The two had just been booted from Ukraine where they had been trying to film an investigation.
1:14.9	So now Grosev had lots of time on his hands and a laptop and a fresh stack of data from
1:20.2	the Russian black market. So naturally...
1:23.2	Kristo walked into a meeting we were having one day and said very quietly
1:27.4	as if he was divulging a state secret that he thinks he has a lead
1:31.4	and who tried to poison Navalny.
1:33.0	Daniel Rohr directed the documentary Navalny, which portrays the story of the close collaboration
	...

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