The jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Russia was widely expected by Russia watchers, but experts say what comes next will likely depend on the momentum of protests in support of Navalny, whether the West decides to punish Russia and how the Kremlin responds to growing unrest in the country.
Navalny, regarded as one of the most prominent critics of Putin, was handed a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence on Tuesday for parole violations, charges he and his team argued were trumped up and politically motivated.
The judge said the year that Navalny has already spent under house arrest (around 10 months) will be deducted from his jail term. Navalny’s defense team has said it will appeal the court ruling.
Protests over Navalny’s initial detention in mid-January and immediately after his return to Russia from Germany, where he had been treated since last summer for a nerve agent poisoning, have been seen across Russia over the last two weekends, and again on Tuesday outside the Moscow court where the sentence was passed.
The ruling was widely condemned by Western governments, but the U.S. and Europe stopped short of threatening further sanctions on Russia, for now, with both calling for Navalny’s immediate and unconditional release.
U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, hinted in a tweet that more sanctions could be imposed on Russia, which is already operating under Western restrictions due to its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, among other misdemeanors.
Strong leaders don’t have to jail adversaries to maintain power. First, Alexei Navalny was poisoned, and when unsuccessful, the Putin regime has now jailed him following a sham of a trial. We'll be introducing legislation this week to sanction those responsible for these acts. https://t.co/nmDhn3b9OL
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) February 2, 2021
