The Death Of Alexei Navalny And The Future Of Russia

Diane Rehm: On My Mind

WAMU 88.5

Artists And Thinkers Right Here As Diane Transitions This Podcast To Weekly Episodes That We’ll Be Calling “On My Mind.”, News, Writers, Fans Of The Diane Rehm Show Can Continue To Listen To Its Trademark Conversations With Newsmakers

4.7 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last week the Russian government announced the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s harshest and most well-known critic.

For more than a decade, Navalny campaigned against the corruption of Vladimir Putin and his allies. He ran for mayor of Moscow, crisscrossed the country in an attempted run for president, and offered a younger generation a glimpse of a post-Putin Russia.

During that time, he also endured arrests, beatings, and in 2020, a near fatal poisoning. At the time of his death, he was imprisoned at a penal colony in the Arctic on what his supporters say were politically motivated charges.

“Navalny was the plan for the day after,” says Julia Ioffe, longtime journalist who covers Russia and U.S.-Russia relations. Even behind bars, she says, he represented hope for those who opposed Putin’s power.

Ioffe joins Diane on this episode of On My Mind to discuss the life, death and legacy of Alexei Navalny.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I hit Diane, Diane, on my mind, Russia after Nabalny.
0:11.3	Last week the Russian government announced the death of opposition leader Alexei
0:17.6	Nablney, the Kremlin's harshest and most well-known critic.
0:23.7	He campaigned against the corruption of Vladimir Putin
0:28.2	and his allies for more than a decade.
0:32.4	During that time, Navani ran from Mayor of Moscow,
0:36.7	attempted to run for president,
0:39.5	and offered a younger generation a glimpse of a post- Putin, Russia.
0:46.9	He endured arrests, beatings, and in 2020, a near fatal poisoning.
0:59.2	Julia Yap is a journalist at Puck News. She's covered Russia and Russia-U.S relations for years.
1:08.0	She joined me Thursday morning to talk about Naval's life, death, and legacy.
1:17.0	Julia, what do we know at this point about these circumstances of Navalny's death?
1:25.0	Well, Diane, we don't know a whole lot.
1:27.4	We know that earlier on Thursday morning,
1:30.6	Alexei Navalny's mother was allowed to see the body but not to retrieve it.
1:36.0	We know that the authorities still don't want to release him for burial to the family.
1:42.1	They want to bury him themselves and that they told
1:45.3	her that he died of natural causes. Earlier, right after the death was announced,
1:51.9	they said that he had died of, quote, sudden death syndrome, which is not a real thing.
1:59.0	So, you know, again, we don't know what caused his death,
2:03.4	whether it was the conditions that had led up to his death.
2:08.6	For three years, he was starved,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WAMU 88.5, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WAMU 88.5 and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.