With Navalny’s death, Russians lose their last hope ( www.politico.eu )
“The cause of death is being investigated,” Russia’s prison authorities announced after Alexei Navalny died in Penal Colony No. 3 just above the Arctic Circle on Friday.
But whichever way you look at it, it’s already clear what killed him: Vladimir Putin’s enmity.
For years, Navalny and the Russian president have been locked in a brutal battle royal that was unlikely to end without the death of one them.
That somewhat macabre prognosis turned into a commonplace adage among many Russians — even among Navalny’s own supporters.
And now it has finally happened. Only a day after he was filmed at a court hearing — cracking jokes and seemingly in high spirits — it was announced the 47-year-old collapsed suddenly on a walk in prison, and died after an attempt by an ambulance crew to revive him.
