There’s No Good News For Putin in Poisoned Tea Leaves
Opposition voices are under permanent threat in Russia, and paranoia in the Kremlin means anything is possible.
Could the latest attempt to silence Alexei Navalny backfire?
Photographer: Maxim Zmeyev/AFP via Getty Images
We will probably never know for certain who ordered tainted tea for the Kremlin’s most vocal critic. Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption campaigning has made him a long list of enemies, and a dark undercurrent of violence is never far from the surface in Russian politics. The timing of the assault, though, suggests worrying disquiet among those in charge.
Regional elections are weeks away, and anti-government protests in the Far East aren’t going away. There’s also economic discontent at home, plus an ongoing uprising in neighboring Belarus, led by an unexpectedly galvanizing opposition.
Rather than fixing President Vladimir Putin’s problems, though, the assault may make them worse.