On Jan. 17, Alexei Navalny, perhaps the best-known domestic critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, returned to Russia in dramatic fashion after recovering in Germany from what he claims was deliberate poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok, allegedly by agents of the Kremlin. Navalny was promptly arrested at the airport upon his arrival in Moscow, setting the stage for nationwide protests across Russia that resulted in over 3,000 arrests. The protests look likely to resume on Jan. 31.
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Joshua Tucker: Navalny’s return – and his arrest – have upended Russian politics
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a screen set up at a hall of the Moscow Regional Court via a video link from Moscow's penal detention centre Number 1 (known as Matrosskaya Tishina) during a court hearing of an appeal against his arrest, in Krasnogorsk outside Moscow on Jan. 28, 2021.
