The death of Alexei Navalny at the hands of Putin of Russia comes as no surprise, as it was inevitable surely the moment Putin imprisoned him on trumped up charges. He has now been disposed of by Putin, which is the fate of all his opponents. That Putin chose to seek to make the life of Alexei Navalny a misery, after failing to assassinate him in 2020, merely illustrates the inhumanity of this barbaric President. That Putin decided to make him live his last days in an Arctic penal colony described as purgatory in conditions of icy cold beyond an English imagination, on a diet of “two mugs of boiling water and two pieces of disgusting bread” as Navalny said, was perhaps a true measure of the coward Putin.
Alexei Navalny is the subject of obituaries which describe a man of immense courage, willing to sacrifice everything for his beliefs and life’s mission to rid his country of the evil regime which rules it. Without seeking to repeat the content and admiration of those obituaries, Alexei Navalny was undoubtedly a man whose actions reflected his words, a man who overcame fear to do what he saw was right. True moral fibre. Now one of the main opponents of Putin has been removed. The other, which is Ukraine, continues to sacrifice its men and women to prevent Putin, the moral void, fulfilling his destructive and corrupt wishes.
The response to Alexei Navalny’s murder has been words of outrage from leaders of many Western democracies and of the EU, and disgust for Putin. But will their words be reflected in action? Will those leaders one day endorse an agreement with Putin to cease his Ukrainian invasion, gifting him the rewards of his war crimes in the shape of chunks of Ukraine? They may well do.
In fact, they will almost certainly have to if the House of Representatives in the USA rejects funding for support of Ukraine. It is to be hoped that those Republicans, whose lack of moral fibre is so shown up by Alexei Navalny, see their responsibility to ensure, along with other NATO members, that Ukraine not only survives but defeats Putin. A compromise with Putin is a victory for him. It is notable how Trump has not just been silent about Alexei Navalny’s murder but continues to leave open his benign opinion of Putin. That moral void on his part surely makes him unfit for any office .
Only the other day the Biden administration at least committed itself to Ukraine. From the day Putin started his war 2 years ago, the USA and leading NATO and some other major democracies declared support for Ukraine for as long as it takes. They cannot now renege on that commitment. To do so would be morally repugnant. Ukraine depends on Western arms and aid, as it fights the war of Putin on Europe, which if he wins means other European countries will almost certainly be next. The EU and the UK surely too must urgently commit significant resources to building rapidly their defence capabilities to counter an increasingly aggressive world led by Putin and Xi of China
If the death of Alexei Navalny is not to be in vain, Western countries must not just match words with much tougher actions, but their leaders must at last display moral fibre and stand by good principles to defeat Putin’s evil.
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