# Kremlin Critic - Aleksei Navalny dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658 "2024-02-16T13:04:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/21 "2024-02-17T22:12:29Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Perhaps just as well. It seemed like every couple weeks he’d have 15 years added to his sentence, And then getting to sent to the arctic, His only hope, as it were, would be an overthrow revolution or if Putin were actually terminally ill. > > Nobody’s takin’ it to the streets. The revolution will not be televised as it will not occur. One has to take into the account that, be it due to successful propaganda or whatever, Putin is more popular than ever; there is no “revolution” right now. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/22 "2024-02-17T23:49:15Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > One has to take into the account that, be it due to successful propaganda or whatever, Putin is more popular than ever; there is no “revolution” right now. I recall Joe Biden saying, “This man cannot remain in power”. It’s been said by many others many times and doesn’t automatically cause war (or congress to declare war). Yet at some point a nuclear power has to be taken on as a foe by some country. Yet what pisses me off right now is how Putin never referred to Navalny by name, and instead called him “этот персонаж” - etot personage - which directly translated means “that character” yet it means a bit worse to call someone that in Russian. Putin speaks like five languages and is a master of nuance. He chose his words carefully yet the New York Times will just repeat “that character” or in another phrasing “that certain gentleman”. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/23 "2024-02-19T02:51:10Z")
I would like to see the Russian people write Aleksei Navalny’s initials on every square inch of public space. It will strike fear in Putin. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/24 "2024-02-20T11:04:55Z")
The Kremlin is keeping his body for a couple of weeks to run some tests (or likely to destroy evidence). > **[Alexei Navalny's body to be held for two weeks for 'chemical analysis',...](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68344582)** > > The wife of the dead Putin critic says Russian authorities are waiting until nerve agent traces disappear. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/25 "2024-02-20T11:12:56Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > The Kremlin is keeping his body for a couple of weeks to run some tests (or likely to destroy evidence). This to me is the real mystery. Why the charade of keeping Navalny alive for any amount of time, why wasn’t he just dumped out of a helicopter shortly after re-entering Russia in a “failed escape bid?” Putin certainly has the power to kill anyone if he chooses, and the slave-mentality Russian people aren’t likely to rise up in protest. I don’t know the answer but my gut tells me that if a dictator like Putin knows that challenges are inevitable, then it’s better to have a controlled opposition figure. Let angry people channel their dissatisfaction & anger toward following a leader that you yourself control, and can end if he becomes a real threat. So I guess Putin and Navalny were playing sort of a poker game with Putin holding most of the cards (including Navalny himself), but Navalny holding a longshot wildcard that he might be next if anything happened to Putin. I don’t know, that’s just my best guess. Also, count me among people who see Navalny as no great loss. He was extremely bigoted and xenophobic. Sure, he made noise about “reform” but there’s no reason to believe that was anything but him saying what Putin’s critics wanted to hear, until he himself gained power and rolled back all meaningful reform exactly as Putin did. There are no Russian “reformers” coming to the rescue. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/26 "2024-02-20T11:17:38Z")
We have no idea how popular he is or not thanks to how dissidence is suppressed; for that matter, Putin _himself_ doesn’t know. All he or we can do is guess how many people are lying or remaining silent out of fear. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/27 "2024-02-20T11:59:53Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Also, count me among people who see Navalny as no great loss. > He was extremely bigoted and xenophobic. True. He was an asshole, but a brave asshole. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/28 "2024-02-20T13:39:52Z")
His wife has had her twitter account suspended. People are pissed at Elon Musk. She had just created the account yesterday, I think. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/29 "2024-09-30T14:10:53Z")
I don’t see this discussed in the traditional media, but some media are saying he was poisoned: > **[“He began to complain of sharp pain in the stomach”: Official documents...](https://theins.press/en/politics/274926)** > > The Insider has obtained access to hundreds of official documents related to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death in the Polar Wolf penal colony in the Russian Far North on Feb. 16, 2024. Officially, Navalny’s death was attributed to... ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/30 "2024-09-30T14:13:50Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I’m sure he was thinking that it is rather hard to be a Russian politician when you live in Germany. Maybe, but what is even harder is being a Russian politician who is bucking the system. In many cases, “harder” ends up as being “dead”. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/31 "2025-09-17T18:22:01Z")
> **[Alexei Navalny's widow says lab reports show her husband was poisoned](https://apnews.com/article/russia-alexei-navalny-death-poisoning-435de889d2e59cf12f85957006e07617)** > > The widow of Alexei Navalny says that two independent labs have found that her husband was poisoned shortly before his death in an Arctic penal colony in Russia. > In a video released Wednesday, Yulia Navalnaya said that biological samples from [Navalny’s body](https://apnews.com/article/russia-navalny-death-mother-body-78fa6a0d6792ee868ad41fd672dea510) had been taken out of Russia and tested at two laboratories abroad. > > She said that both laboratories concluded that Navalny had been poisoned, but had not released their findings due to “political considerations.” This seems strange: why would laboratories outside Russia be comcerned about political considerations? ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/32 "2025-09-18T03:23:06Z")
Were they German and Swedish testing sites like the first time he was tested for neurotoxins? It’s hard to tell from the linked article. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/33 "2026-02-14T14:48:52Z")
> **[Russia killed Alexei Navalny with frog toxin, UK and four European allies say](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/14/alexei-navalny-poisoning-death-russia-frog-toxin)** > > Intelligence agencies say deadly toxin in skin of Ecuador dart frogs found in Navalny’s body and highly likely resulted in his death ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/34 "2026-02-14T19:45:03Z")
If that assassination method isn’t called “being croaked”, it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/35 "2026-02-14T19:48:38Z")
What? No windows nearby? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/36 "2026-02-14T20:27:07Z")
This whole story just turns my stomach. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658/37 "2026-02-15T00:41:45Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > If that assassination method isn’t called “being croaked”, it should be. Dark humor. But I did chuckle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kremlin-critic-aleksei-navalny-dead/997658.md?page=1)