By Invitation | Russia after Navalny

A former political prisoner on how the West should honour Alexei Navalny’s legacy

It needs to rediscover its concern for Russian dissidents, argues Natan Sharansky

Illustration: Dan Williams

AROUND A YEAR ago I received a letter from my alma mater: the Soviet gulag, where I spent nine years after being convicted of anti-Soviet activity, high treason and espionage, and from which I graduated in 1986. The letter was sent by Alexei Navalny from a shtrafnoy izolyator, or “shizo” for short, the most extreme type of punishment cell in the gulag. He told me he was reading my book, “Fear No Evil”, and was surprised by the similarity of our experiences.

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From the March 2nd 2024 edition

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