NBC News reports that more than 400 persons have been detained in Russia while paying tribute to political opposition leader Alexei Navalny (47), who reportedly died Friday morning (2/16/2024) at a remote, Arctic penal colony.
Navalny’s sudden death was a crushing blow to many Russians, who had pinned their hopes for the future on President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe. Navalny remained vocal in his unrelenting criticism of the Kremlin even after surviving a nerve agent poisoning and receiving multiple prison terms.
Navalny was jailed in January 2021 following his return to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning, which he blamed on the Kremlin. He subsequently received three prison terms based on charges he considered to be politically motivated. After the last verdict sentencing him to a 19-year term, he claimed he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.”
The NBC News report may be read HERE.
As if another example were necessary, the Navalny situation shows the evil, brutal and over-the-top political animal who is Russian President Vladimir Putin. As the United States used to understand following the division of Berlin at the end of WWII and the decade’s long Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the United States, a dictatorial, communist Russian leader represents a threat to all Western nations, given the history of the development of nuclear arms.
Putin, himself a former KGB operative, seemingly still operates in this mindset of Russian superiority and brutality, enabled by controlling every aspect of Russian civilian life and its communist government – including its military. Ukraine can attest to the evil and murderous actions of Putin, as the Russia-Ukraine War, with all of its murder, indiscriminate bombing and alleged war crimes, continues.
United States congressional leaders should not forget, despite current political disagreement, the threat posed by a world leader such as Putin, including recent news reports that Russia is allegedly preparing space-based nuclear weapon(s) to take out other countries’ satellites.
Regarding Putin:
Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV)
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; [w]ho put darkness for light, and light for darkness; [w]ho put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV)
“Pride goes before destruction, [a]nd a haughty spirit before a fall.”
1 Timothy 2:4-6 (NKJV)
God Desires All To Be Saved
“[God our Savior] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…”.
Praise Jesus forevermore!