Very few people would mess with Vladimir Putin as consistently as Alexei Navalny has regularly done for years, and quite a few critics who have tried have failed, disappeared into oblivion - or dead.
In the fight for the trust of the Russian people, SPIEGEL correspondent Christina Hebel sees a clear advantage for Navalny: "Putin has lost control of the Internet," she says.
"There are now age groups in Russia that the Kremlin can no longer reach."
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In addition, she draws a link between Navalny's movement and the ongoing protests against Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.
"Both movements quote each other and watch carefully how the situation in the neighboring country is developing."
SPIEGEL correspondent Christian Esch has been watching events in Russia for 13 years.
He has seen waves of protests come and go and is now amazed that there was hardly any criticism after the poison attack on Navalny, but since his arrest, people have streamed onto the streets in many places.
He also noted a shock in German-Russian relations: "It sounds strange to our ears, but from the Kremlin's point of view, the behavior of the federal government in the Navalny case is like a stab in the back."
Icon: The mirror
