When Alexei Navalny came out of a coma caused by Novichok poisoning, Vladimir Putin’s most effective opponent somehow managed to see the funny side of his brush with death, Gordon Rayner writes.
“What the —-? That is so stupid,” he said when he was told what had happened. “If you want to kill someone, why not just shoot them?”
Navalny, who has been a political prisoner ever since he returned to Russia last year, has a remarkably robust sense of humour for a man who lives every day knowing it could be his last.
It is this strength of personality that shines through in a new documentary about him, Navalny, which offers sight of an alternative future for Russia, one in which the country is led not by a dead-eyed killer but by a progressive, charismatic family man who relaxes by playing Call of Duty and watching Rick and Morty cartoons.
“Putin could be gone tomorrow,” says Maria Pevchikh, who has effectively been Navalny’s right hand woman for the past decade. “That’s what makes Russian politics interesting – that things genuinely can change overnight and Russia will be a different country entirely.
“I’m hoping this film will introduce Alexei to the world, and I’m excited because people will get to see what he’s really like.”
