January 16, 2023

"Stop Bullying" Navalny


"Stop Bullying" Navalny
Alexei Navalny on a march in memory of politician Boris Nemtsov, who was killed outside the Kremlin in 2015. Michał Siergiejevicz, Wikimedia Commons.

Medical workers from Russia, the United States, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries have called on the Russian state to "stop bullying" and to provide medical care to Alexei Navalny, an imprisoned opposition politician. On January 10, an open letter was published and signed by over 600 medical workers. 

"We demand to stop bullying Alexei Navalny, we demand to stop sending Alexei to punitive confinement, we demand to allow civilian doctors to visit him and, if there are indications, to hospitalize him in a civilian hospital for a full examination and treatment," the letter says.

According to the BBC, Navalny was in punitive confinement over the New Year holidays. After the holidays he fell ill: he has a fever and cough. Despite that, the prison authorities did not allow Navalny's hospitalization, ostensibly because there are influenza patients in the colony's medical unit. The authorities also forbade Vadim Kobzev, the politician's lawyer, from sending him medicine. 

Navalny said that he is sure the colony's authorities are deliberately endangering his health. On Instagram he wrote that, during the New Year holidays, his cellmate was regularly sent to the medical unit for a day and then returned to their cell. Navalny said he believes that prisoner was being used as a sort of "bacteriological weapon."

Navalny was confined to the strict-regime penal colony in Melekhovo, Vladimir Oblast, in June 2022, and this is not the first allegation of a biased attitude of the colony's authorities towards the politician. Since August, Navalny has been sent to punitive confinement 10 times, reportedly for very strange reasons: he unbuttoned a button on his prison uniform, cleaned the exercise yard poorly, and spoke negatively about mobilization.

According to Navalny, every 10 days he spends in punitive confinement he loses 3.5 kilograms, and because it is forbidden to lie in bed during the day, the politician reports having a backache. In addition, because of constant “violations,” Navalny has been deprived of long visits with relatives and the opportunity to leave his cell.

You Might Also Like

Outsmarting Smart Voting
  • November 01, 2021

Outsmarting Smart Voting

For the first time since 2016, and the first time since the momentous constitutional changes of 2020 allowing President Putin to run for two more presidential terms, Russia has elected a new parliament.
Patching the Holes
  • July 15, 2022

Patching the Holes

Russian lawmakers have been vigorously adding new laws in response to political and cultural developments and public protests, rather than due to pressure from the public or practical necessity.
A Director Detained
  • October 31, 2022

A Director Detained

Russian playwright Alexei Zhitkovsky has been detained for suspicion of engaging in "extremism."
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955