Vladimir Putin
Dangerous autocrat
BY ALEXEI NAVALNY
Perhaps Vladimir Putin’s true mission
is to teach lessons. To everyone—from
world leaders and pundits to ordinary
people. He has been especially good at
this in 2022.
He reminded us once again that a
path that begins with “just a little elec-
tion rigging” always ends with a dicta-
torship. And dictatorship always leads
to war. It’s a lesson we shouldn’t have
forgotten.
World leaders have hypocritically
talked for years about a “pragmatic
approach” and the benefi ts of
international trade. In so doing, they
enabled themselves to benefi t from
Russian oil and gas while Putin’s grip
on power grew stronger. Between
sanctions and military and economic
aid, this war will cost hundreds of
times more than those lucrative oil
and gas contracts, the signing of which
used to be celebrated with champagne.
Putin has reminded us all of the
“duck test”: if something looks like a
duck, swims like a duck, and quacks
like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
The very same logic should be ap-
plied in this case: if someone destroys
the independent media, organizes po-
litical assassinations, and sticks to his
imperial delusions, then he is a mad-
man capable of causing a bloodbath in
the center of Europe in the 21st century.
And you really shouldn’t embrace him
at international forums.
Right now, Putin is also teaching a
lesson on how to nullify economic gains
made by one’s country over the course
of 20 years.
However, the answer to the main
question he poses—how to stop an
evil madman with an army, nuclear
weapons, and membership in the
U.N. Security Council—is yet to be
answered. And we are the ones who
must fi nd that answer.
Navalny, the leader of the Russian
opposition, is serving nine years in
a maximum-security penal colony
VON DER LEYEN: MONEY SHARMA—AFP/GETTY IMAGES; DESANTIS: JABIN BOTSFORD—THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES; PUTIN: ALEXANDER NEMENOV—AFP/GETTY IMAGES; SINEMA SOURCE PHOTO: BONNIE CASH—POOL/GETTY IMAGES
