Aleksei Navalny and the Future of Russia

<p>The Russian activist Aleksei Navalny has spent years agitating against corruption, and against President Vladimir Putin. </p><p>Last summer he was poisoned with a rare nerve agent linked to the Russian state. Last week, after recovering in Germany, he returned to Moscow. He was arrested at the airport, but he managed to put out a call for protest, which was answered in the streets of more than a hundred Russian cities.</p><p>Today, we look at the improbable story of Aleksei Navalny.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/anton-troianovski">Anton Troianovski</a>, who has been a Moscow correspondent for The New York Times since 2019. </p><p>For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. You can read the latest edition <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily-newsletter">here</a>.</p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>Pro-Navalny protests moved across time zones and more than 3,000 people were arrested in at least 109 cities, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/international-home/russia-protests-navalny.html?smid=pc-thedaily">signaling widespread fatigue</a> with the corruption-plagued political order presided over by President Vladimir Putin.</li><li>The protests presented the Russian government with<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/world/europe/navalny-protests-russia.html?smid=pc-thedaily"> its biggest wave of dissent in years.</a></li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily </a></p>