Alexei Navalny and the Russian protests, explained

This appeared in The Millennial Source

Navalny’s arrest has sparked nationwide riots across the country and a scandal over allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a secret US$1.3 billion compound on the Black Sea.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested on January 17 shortly after his plane touched down in Russia. Navalny had spent the last several months in Germany recovering from a near fatal poisoning.

Navalny’s arrest has sparked nationwide riots across the country and a scandal over allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a secret US$1.3 billion compound on the Black Sea.

Who is Alexei Navalny?

Navalny is the leader of the Russia of the Future party, an anti-corruption party that has led the charge against Putin’s United Russia Party. Navalny and his team are also famous for releasing video reports on YouTube and elsewhere detailing the mass corruption of Russia’s public officials.

Last August, Navalny was flown to Germany where he was hospitalized for what doctors determined to be nerve agent poisoning. Russia is notorious for its political poisonings, which have resulted in the illnesses and deaths of several Putin critics.