The extraordinary courage of Alexei Navalny, who survived being poisoned with a nerve agent and then returned to Russia despite near-certain arrest after, has found an echo in the boldness of ordinary Russians. Tens of thousands braved beatings, arrests, temperatures down to minus 50C, and potential jail terms to show support for him in protests on the weekend. The participants, like Mr. Navalny, threw down a challenge to the Kremlin. They also presented one to the west: to find effective ways to retaliate against the prison term that may now await the opposition activist, and to support democracy in Russia.
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Financial Times: Alexei Navalny and his supporters deserve western support
A view taken on Jan. 19, 2021, shows Moscow's penal detention center Number 1 (known as Matrosskaya Tishina) where opposition leader Alexei Navalny is held after being jailed for 30 days following his arrest at a Moscow airport upon the arrival from Berlin.