{"id":11937,"date":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=153591"},"modified":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","slug":"the-week-in-russia-no-2-politician-no-1-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/22\/the-week-in-russia-no-2-politician-no-1-headache\/","title":{"rendered":"The Week In Russia: ‘No. 2 Politician, No. 1 Headache’"},"content":{"rendered":"
The United States got a new president this week, but it\u2019s hard to escape the impression that Russia\u2019s political world has also seen a big change in less than seven days, a shift that will shape the future in unknown ways.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the result of Kremlin foe, opposition politician, and anti-corruption activist Aleksei Navalny\u2019s return — and a state response that analysts say has only added to the challenges faced by President Vladimir Putin.<\/a><\/p>\n On the surface, it is Navalny\u2019s actions that appear to have caused an abrupt change — a shift that seems to show the country from a new perspective, like a place you picture in one way after an initial visit and then see from a different angle after you travel there again, with the original impression then fading in your memory.<\/p>\n Defying the threat of almost certain arrest and the prospect of potentially being imprisoned for over a decade, Navalny returned to Russia on January 17 from Germany, where he had been recuperating after a nerve-agent poisoning in Siberia that he blames on the Federal Security Service (FSB) and on Putin himself.<\/p>\n As promised by Russia\u2019s prison service days before his return, he was detained shortly after arrival and is now in a cell at Moscow\u2019s imposing Matrosskaya Tishina jail,<\/a> waiting a February 2 hearing on a charge that he violated parole in a previous case — an allegation he, supporters, and many observers say is patently absurd.<\/p>\n