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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