Russians and Belarusians are tired of backwards-looking autocrats
The old tools of truncheon and syringe may keep them in power. But for how long?
NOTHING IS AS inspiring as seeing people take to the streets to demand their freedoms—and nothing is as terrifying for the dictators they are defying. In Belarus, among scenes that recall the revolts of 1989, people are turning out in their hundreds of thousands after a blatantly rigged election, heedless of the threat of state violence. In the Russian city of Khabarovsk tens of thousands march week after week to protest against the arrest of the local governor and the imposition of Moscow’s rules. Vladimir Putin is rattled. Why else is Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption crusader and Mr Putin’s greatest popular rival for the Russian presidency, lying poisoned in a Berlin hospital bed?
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “What Putin fears”
From the August 29th 2020 edition
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