As of: February 19, 2024, 4:46 a.m
By: Richard Strobl
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The death of Alexei Navalny causes consternation.
It doesn't come completely unexpectedly.
Experts classify what could be behind it.
Moscow – “His resistance to a system of oppression cost him his life.” With these words, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné reacted to the death of Alexei Navalny reported by Russian authorities.
US President Joe Biden went further and blamed Vladimir Putin personally.
At least for the time being, many question marks remain - including the exact cause of death.
And yet the question arises as to why Navalny could have been murdered now after years of imprisonment?
Political sociologist Maxim Alyukov spoke to
Business Insider
about a “political murder” of Navalny .
But what advantage could Putin's apparatus derive from the death of an opposition figure who has been imprisoned for years?
Navalny murdered?
Expert sees benefit for Putin – “wouldn’t be a surprise”
According to the sociologist at King's College in London, Navalny's death is currently coming in handy for Putin.
After all, the Russian presidential election is just under a month away.
The critic's death could therefore be a clear warning to all other opponents.
“Considering the fact that Putin repeatedly physically eliminates opponents, including poisoning Navalny himself, this would not be a surprise,” the expert told the paper.
Alyukov puts Navalny's death on a par with various unexplained, abrupt deaths among the Russian elite.
He particularly highlights the death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Navalny's death could show "that resistance is futile," said the scientist.
US analyst David Sanger assesses the situation very similarly to
CNN
: “Putin is running in the elections after crushing all those who have publicly denounced the incompetence and evil character of the leadership in Russia.”
At a vigil for Navalny in New York, posters can be seen on which demonstrators express the opinions of Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Putin.
© IMAGO/Jimin Kim/SOPA Images
The Navalny case: Has Putin “decided enough is enough”?
According to other experts, Navalny's death could be a message from Putin to his opponents shortly before the election.
“Putin may well have intended to remove Navalny, a symbol of the Russian opposition, in order to reduce the chances of dissent during the election period,” Callum Fraser of the British defense think tank RUSI told Business
Insider
.
He also uses Prigozhin's death as a comparison.
Putin may have “decided that enough was enough,” the research fellow continued.
Keir Giles, a senior advisor to the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think tank, sees a change in Putin's approach to democracy.
Navalny previously helped Putin maintain the appearance of democracy, he says.
Now Putin doesn't even try to keep up that appearance anymore.
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It remains to be seen whether this plan by Putin, which experts suspect, will work.
The critic's death could also strengthen his movement and the general opposition to the Ukraine war and Putin.
According to the Russian prison authorities, the Kremlin critic collapsed and died on Friday after a walk in a gulag.
Initial reports said the cause of death was a blood clot.
(rist)