History will not be kind when the legacy of Vladimir Putin is judged in the rearview mirror. He has held an iron fist over Russia for over 20 years, and a trail of “mysterious” deaths follows his every action. The connecting string of tragic murders is too lengthy to detail in this column, but worth googling if you want your eyebrows raised in a “Brezhnev” fashion. Putin first came to power in 1999 having served as president or prime minister since then, and is poised to win another 6-year presidential term with most of his opponents having either fled the country or been jailed.
The recent death of Aleksei Navalny on February 16, 2024, is the latest untimely demise. Navalny died suddenly at the ripe age of 47 in a remote Russian prison. The penal colony is called the “Polar Wolf” due to its brutality and distant Arctic location 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.
Navalny, a lawyer, was Putin’s most significant political opponent and was fearless in his advocacy against corruption. Like many who have opposed Putin, he is now dead, although he appeared to be in good health before suddenly passing. The Russian government has thus far refused to release his body, and many world leaders have proclaimed Putin the architect of Navalny’s death through political persecution. History will respect Navalny for qualities that will never be attributed to Putin.
The current Russian leader is also responsible for untold death and misery in Ukraine, having initiated a war of aggression that appears to have no end. Russians and Ukrainians alike are paying the price for Putin’s unchecked ego, and like Hitler, he must be stopped.
Another fearless advocate against the corruption in Putin’s Russia is Bill Browder. He was born in the United States but resides in the United Kingdom. He was a hedge fund manager in Russia having turned an initial 25 million into a fund worth over 4.5 billion dollars through shrewd investing when the country opened foreign access to business. Deported by Russia, Browder fought to prove that his company was illegally appropriated, and exposed a massive tax fraud within the Russian government.
Not surprising to note is that Putin has amassed a fortune while “leading” his former communist nation. Although difficult to document, Putin may be the world’s richest man. Elon Musk, in response to a German journalist’s question about his being the world’s wealthiest man, said, “I do think that Putin is significantly richer than me.”
Putin’s plundering reveals his lack of statesmanship on behalf of Russia. Bill Browder claimed in an interview in Fortune magazine that Putin demanded that all oligarchs personally pay him 50% of their profits in order to avoid the imprisonment that occurred when Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed in 2003 for fraud and tax evasion.
Browder’s story is told in his book “Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice. It’s a good read and details how one of the Russian lawyers defending his company, Sergei Magnitsky, was jailed on trumped-up charges. Like Navalny, he died in a Russian prison after severe maltreatment and medical neglect. Browder felt such remorse over the cruel death of his lawyer that he led international efforts to punish the responsible parties in Russia.
The actions of Browder resulted in the passage of the Magnitsky Act signed into law by Barack Obama in 2012 to sanction Russians having engaged in human rights violations. The European Union, due to Browder’s efforts, also subsequently voted unanimously to impose sanctions upon those responsible for Magnitsky’s death.
Against this backdrop, Donald Trump calls Putin “smart” and “a genius,” while encouraging him to consider attacking NATO allies who fail to pay their share of the costs for the Western military alliance. Despite Trump’s pandering and unhinged comments, Putin recently said he prefers Biden be re-elected over Trump due to Biden’s political stability and experience.
Ironically, Trump has even claimed he is a victim of political persecution in the United States akin to what Navalny endured in Russia — how much further can Trump go off the rails?
Given that Russia sought to aid Trump’s first election win to destabilize America politically, Putin’s comment supporting Biden is manifest subterfuge. The last thing Putin wants is a stable America united with Western nations against Russian aggression.
I’m generally no fan of America’s standing as the world’s greatest arms dealer. However, our Congress should approve additional military aid to Ukraine to defend itself against Putin’s war. No one can win against Putin in Russia’s rigged election system, but failure on the military front could eventually end this brutal strongman’s chokehold on Russia.
(1) comment
You war monger democrats better be willing to send your sons off to die in that war......they are
Running out of Ukrainians.
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