What do you think?
Rate this book
Patriot
🎧Listening Length = 16 hours and 46 minutes
The powerful and moving memoir of a fearless political opposition leader who paid the ultimate price for his beliefs.
Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change cannot be resisted—and will come.
In vivid, compelling detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime.
Written with the passion, wit, candor, and bravery for which he was justly acclaimed, Patriot is Navalny’s final letter to the world: a moving account of his last years spent in the most brutal prison on earth; a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom matter so deeply; and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life.
The powerful and moving memoir of a fearless political opposition leader who paid the ultimate price for his beliefs.
Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change cannot be resisted—and will come.
In vivid, compelling detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime.
Written with the passion, wit, candor, and bravery for which he was justly acclaimed, Patriot is Navalny’s final letter to the world: a moving account of his last years spent in the most brutal prison on earth; a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom matter so deeply; and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life.
“This book is a testament not only to Alexei’s life, but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship—a fight he gave everything for, including his life. Through its pages, readers will come to know the man I loved deeply—a man of profound integrity and unyielding courage. Sharing his story will not only honor his memory but also inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter.” —Yulia Navalnaya
Audiobook
First published October 22, 2024
3581 people are currently reading
24199 people want to read
About the author
Alexei Navalny
7 books136 followersAlexei Anatolievich Navalny (Russian: Алексей Анатольевич Навальный) was a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He came to international prominence by organizing anti-government demonstrations and running for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against President Vladimir Putin and his government. Navalny has been described as "the man Vladimir Putin fears most" by The Wall Street Journal. He was the leader of the Russia of the Future party and the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,047 reviews
March 4, 2025
imperialism is not putin's disease, it is the disease of all russians. and that is why all russians are absolutely responsible for every war and every genocide that russia commits.
navalny is another example of a classic imperialist. he differed from putin only in that he was younger and cunning. navalny had the same views on great empire, just different clothes.
was navalny a patriot of his country? absolutely. he would do anything to preserve russia's greatness.
like: “do we need a new war? good. need new territories? good. should all occupied parts be returned? no way, this destroys the greatness of russia!” these are all the same rotten imperial narratives.
navalny writes about Ukraine in this book because it's convenient. it's convenient to show yourself in a good light. nevertheless, let's not forget how navalny publicly humiliated Ukrainians. and also his support for the russian occupation of Crimea.
meanwhile, in his book, navalny does not write about returning all the territories of Moldova, Georgia, and Chechnya occupied by russia, does not write about the extermination (by russians) of the indigenous population of many regions that are now the territory of russia.
if you criticise the politics of your country in your memoirs, then say it fully. but no, navalny is not capable of such an act. why? because he supports the politics of his country, it's very simple.
so there is nothing new in this book. it is just another confirmation of what a pathetic and spineless imperialists russians are, unable to recognise their own history and crimes. and proof of how dangerous is the propaganda that people are being poured into their ears.
russia must be decolonized. and if this causes you indignation, then ask yourself: do I look at the world through russian imperial propaganda?
educate yourself (documentaries):
Big russian lies
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa...
about propaganda
https://youtu.be/uPF9rInoM94?si=djFmE...
// it's ridiculous that people (or even bots) write in the comments that I'm a bot, but they don't even understand what it means, and what my review is about. this is further proof that propaganda works if people are unable to think critically. and we see that they are not.
so funny and sad.
navalny is another example of a classic imperialist. he differed from putin only in that he was younger and cunning. navalny had the same views on great empire, just different clothes.
was navalny a patriot of his country? absolutely. he would do anything to preserve russia's greatness.
like: “do we need a new war? good. need new territories? good. should all occupied parts be returned? no way, this destroys the greatness of russia!” these are all the same rotten imperial narratives.
navalny writes about Ukraine in this book because it's convenient. it's convenient to show yourself in a good light. nevertheless, let's not forget how navalny publicly humiliated Ukrainians. and also his support for the russian occupation of Crimea.
meanwhile, in his book, navalny does not write about returning all the territories of Moldova, Georgia, and Chechnya occupied by russia, does not write about the extermination (by russians) of the indigenous population of many regions that are now the territory of russia.
if you criticise the politics of your country in your memoirs, then say it fully. but no, navalny is not capable of such an act. why? because he supports the politics of his country, it's very simple.
so there is nothing new in this book. it is just another confirmation of what a pathetic and spineless imperialists russians are, unable to recognise their own history and crimes. and proof of how dangerous is the propaganda that people are being poured into their ears.
russia must be decolonized. and if this causes you indignation, then ask yourself: do I look at the world through russian imperial propaganda?
educate yourself (documentaries):
Big russian lies
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa...
about propaganda
https://youtu.be/uPF9rInoM94?si=djFmE...
// it's ridiculous that people (or even bots) write in the comments that I'm a bot, but they don't even understand what it means, and what my review is about. this is further proof that propaganda works if people are unable to think critically. and we see that they are not.
so funny and sad.
October 12, 2024
Putin killed Nemtsov and Navalny. Trump calls Putin a genius. Tell me again why you think Trump is the strong man America needs.
Vote for the successful prosecutor not the loser convict.
Vote for the successful prosecutor not the loser convict.
September 3, 2025
I don’t want to give up my country or betray it. İf your convictions mean something, you must be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices if necessary.
Patriot: A Memoir ~~~ Alexei Navalny
In the world full of political memoirs, Alexei Navalny’s Patriot: A Memoir stands out as it tells the compelling story of the Russian opposition leader from his near-fatal poisoning in 2020 to his relentless fight against a regime intent on silencing him.
Navalny's book, is filled with never-before-seen correspondence from prison; Navalny offers a vivid account of his political career, the numerous assassination attempts against him, & the unyielding campaign Navalny waged against Putin's dictatorship.
This is Alexei Navalny’s life in his own words: his Soviet childhood, political awakening, his marriage and beloved family, his total commitment to taking on a corrupt regime and his enduring love of Mother Russia and her people.
His 2020 poisoning by the Russian security services was a global news event. In 2024 he died in a brutal Siberian prison. He began writing Patriot: A Memoir while recovering from his poisoning; it ends with his prison diaries, seen here for the first time.
We witness the growth of his nationwide support. We see his many arrests and harassment and, in stunning detail, the attempt on his life. We understand why he felt he had to return to Russia. In prison, he shows a spirit and a sense of humor that cannot be crushed.
Patriot: A Memoir is not just a memoir but a powerful reminder of the significance of individual freedom and a call to continue the work for which Navalny sacrificed his life.
Patriot: A Memoir is as dramatic as Alexei Navalny ~~ a passionate man who believed that good and freedom will prevail. It is Navalny’s final letter to the world, a rousing call to continue his work, an unforgettably positive account of a life that will inspire every reader.
Patriot: A Memoir ~~~ Alexei Navalny
In the world full of political memoirs, Alexei Navalny’s Patriot: A Memoir stands out as it tells the compelling story of the Russian opposition leader from his near-fatal poisoning in 2020 to his relentless fight against a regime intent on silencing him.
Navalny's book, is filled with never-before-seen correspondence from prison; Navalny offers a vivid account of his political career, the numerous assassination attempts against him, & the unyielding campaign Navalny waged against Putin's dictatorship.
This is Alexei Navalny’s life in his own words: his Soviet childhood, political awakening, his marriage and beloved family, his total commitment to taking on a corrupt regime and his enduring love of Mother Russia and her people.
His 2020 poisoning by the Russian security services was a global news event. In 2024 he died in a brutal Siberian prison. He began writing Patriot: A Memoir while recovering from his poisoning; it ends with his prison diaries, seen here for the first time.
We witness the growth of his nationwide support. We see his many arrests and harassment and, in stunning detail, the attempt on his life. We understand why he felt he had to return to Russia. In prison, he shows a spirit and a sense of humor that cannot be crushed.
Patriot: A Memoir is not just a memoir but a powerful reminder of the significance of individual freedom and a call to continue the work for which Navalny sacrificed his life.
Patriot: A Memoir is as dramatic as Alexei Navalny ~~ a passionate man who believed that good and freedom will prevail. It is Navalny’s final letter to the world, a rousing call to continue his work, an unforgettably positive account of a life that will inspire every reader.
November 22, 2024
No good. Navalny is imperialist that wants to be in Putin's shoes. If he would be in power, he would do the same a Putin but probably a bit smarter. So good riddance. Not worth of reading this. I see comments that I'm bot. I am not.
October 23, 2024
This book is a complete waste of time, money, and paper it’s printed on.
Navalny was an imperialist who aspired to take Putin’s place, and now his wife is carrying on that legacy. Nothing more as a family of corrupt wannabe dictators. They pursue the same agenda as Putin, just with more cunning. He openly supported the invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and illegal annexation of Crimea, often used ethnic slur towards Georgian people calling them “rodents” (russia invaded Georgia in the 90, then in 2008, and now occupies 20% of the country), and called Muslims “cockroaches.” There are plenty of his interviews online with this language.
It’s disgraceful to glorify such a man. Good riddance to him, and to this mediocre writing.
On top of that transliteration is done in russian, imperialistic manner: Chernobyl instead of Chornobyl, Zalisiye instead of Zalissia, Kiev instead of Kyiv and so on.
Best if used for lighting up your fireplace or something.
Navalny was an imperialist who aspired to take Putin’s place, and now his wife is carrying on that legacy. Nothing more as a family of corrupt wannabe dictators. They pursue the same agenda as Putin, just with more cunning. He openly supported the invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and illegal annexation of Crimea, often used ethnic slur towards Georgian people calling them “rodents” (russia invaded Georgia in the 90, then in 2008, and now occupies 20% of the country), and called Muslims “cockroaches.” There are plenty of his interviews online with this language.
It’s disgraceful to glorify such a man. Good riddance to him, and to this mediocre writing.
On top of that transliteration is done in russian, imperialistic manner: Chernobyl instead of Chornobyl, Zalisiye instead of Zalissia, Kiev instead of Kyiv and so on.
Best if used for lighting up your fireplace or something.
October 26, 2024
Navalny is one of the bravest men I’ve known. Not only he is a good politician but also a good writer. I laughed out loud a couple of times which is a very rare thing for me :)
I can’t forgive myself for not doing more than what I did, not helping him out, not saving him.
We Russians knew the whole history but I’m happy other people now do too.
Putin must be sent to The Hague for at least what he did to Nemtsov, Navalny. For all the wars he started.
Russia will be happy, I believe it. One day we will see it with our own eyes.
I can’t forgive myself for not doing more than what I did, not helping him out, not saving him.
We Russians knew the whole history but I’m happy other people now do too.
Putin must be sent to The Hague for at least what he did to Nemtsov, Navalny. For all the wars he started.
Russia will be happy, I believe it. One day we will see it with our own eyes.
November 13, 2024
Бутерброд
October 27, 2024
Lost for words. It's been some time since I've read a book that made me feel so many emotions. Navalny's life is truly inspirational and its ending is incredibly sad.
November 9, 2024
The low ratings on this are so interesting…each of them calling Navalny an imperialist. The mixed reviews and the discussions within this book speak to the deeply orchestrated propaganda Russian media spit to their people on Россия Сегодня, Первый Канал, Телеграмм, СМИ, т.д…
Я надеюсь, что однажды российский народ получит доступ к свободной и правдивой информации, сможет свободно мыслить и смело и безопасно требовать перемен от своего правительства. I hope I get to see that change happen in my lifetime.
They are allowed to conceptualize and accept how absolute Putin’s power is over them, yet they truly believe anyone challenging him does not have their interests in mind, but instead is selfish and wants it to themselves— an idea his story throughout this book continuously challenges.
Я надеюсь, что однажды российский народ получит доступ к свободной и правдивой информации, сможет свободно мыслить и смело и безопасно требовать перемен от своего правительства. I hope I get to see that change happen in my lifetime.
They are allowed to conceptualize and accept how absolute Putin’s power is over them, yet they truly believe anyone challenging him does not have their interests in mind, but instead is selfish and wants it to themselves— an idea his story throughout this book continuously challenges.
Read
November 11, 2024I struggle to give this book a rating similarly to how I struggle to (definitively) say, that I enjoyed it. Upon what scale do I measure what I had just read? As whom do I read the book? Dana the Ukrainian? Dana the book blogger? Do I read it as a journalist and make the best attempt to be impartial? Do I read it as a person with a degree in international relations? Should I rate it based off of my emotions? The content? The idea? The fact, that I was reading a historical document?
I see no shame in admitting, that I, like many people I know, had hoped Navalny could be THE force of change in Russia. Having followed his activities closely for years, ultimately I was left disappointed. Navalny was undoubtedly a smart man and a true patriot of Russia, but let us not confuse him with a saviour, a universal answer, an anti-venom to all the evil done by Russia. The only thing left for us to do is speculate and come up with countless "what ifs", hypotheticals on what kind of president he would or would not be.
There is an episode in the book, when under trial for the Kirov case, Navalny mentions how a partner of his, a local businessman, who was trialled alongside with him, was given a choice: to have his business activities obscured, thus being unable to provide for his 5 kids, or to provide any real or false kompromat to incriminate Alexei. Navalny ruminates, but quickly comes to the realisation, that he would not blame the man for choosing himself, no matter how morally unrighteousness that decision would be.
This nuance adds to the author's portrait and solidifies my idea, that although we are dealing with a man who has said and done, and this I sincerely believe, everything with Russia's best intentions in mind, many of these things, nonetheless, were done to the detriment of my country — Ukraine. I am under no illusion, that if given the opportunity to pick between Russia's survival and Ukraine's independence, Navalny would, too, pick what is dear to him. The sad reality of this choice is that for Russia to continue existing in the way she currently is, to keep all her republics and regions intact, she must engage in war and she must keep seizing territory. The devil you know is better than a devil you don't, hence his remarks on Crimea, the annexation of which was mentioned by Navalny in only one sentence at the beginning of chapter 15, which is "not be a sausage sandwich you pass around".
This is why it's so important to not take subjective recollections as blunt facts. It is our role, as the readers, to be the seekers of "the truth", to dig deep and to pay attention to the surrounding contexts, like, for example, the reviews written by Ukrainians under this book. Disregarding them bluntly is disregarding the important tones and hues of a story, that never has and never will have just one colour, and by a "story", of course, a mean a human life.
So yes, read this book to form an idea on Navalny and the political realities of modern-day Russia, but don't forget to read others as well: on Russian imperialism and colonialism, on Ukraine and its history, on freedom, on war.
I see no shame in admitting, that I, like many people I know, had hoped Navalny could be THE force of change in Russia. Having followed his activities closely for years, ultimately I was left disappointed. Navalny was undoubtedly a smart man and a true patriot of Russia, but let us not confuse him with a saviour, a universal answer, an anti-venom to all the evil done by Russia. The only thing left for us to do is speculate and come up with countless "what ifs", hypotheticals on what kind of president he would or would not be.
There is an episode in the book, when under trial for the Kirov case, Navalny mentions how a partner of his, a local businessman, who was trialled alongside with him, was given a choice: to have his business activities obscured, thus being unable to provide for his 5 kids, or to provide any real or false kompromat to incriminate Alexei. Navalny ruminates, but quickly comes to the realisation, that he would not blame the man for choosing himself, no matter how morally unrighteousness that decision would be.
This nuance adds to the author's portrait and solidifies my idea, that although we are dealing with a man who has said and done, and this I sincerely believe, everything with Russia's best intentions in mind, many of these things, nonetheless, were done to the detriment of my country — Ukraine. I am under no illusion, that if given the opportunity to pick between Russia's survival and Ukraine's independence, Navalny would, too, pick what is dear to him. The sad reality of this choice is that for Russia to continue existing in the way she currently is, to keep all her republics and regions intact, she must engage in war and she must keep seizing territory. The devil you know is better than a devil you don't, hence his remarks on Crimea, the annexation of which was mentioned by Navalny in only one sentence at the beginning of chapter 15, which is "not be a sausage sandwich you pass around".
This is why it's so important to not take subjective recollections as blunt facts. It is our role, as the readers, to be the seekers of "the truth", to dig deep and to pay attention to the surrounding contexts, like, for example, the reviews written by Ukrainians under this book. Disregarding them bluntly is disregarding the important tones and hues of a story, that never has and never will have just one colour, and by a "story", of course, a mean a human life.
So yes, read this book to form an idea on Navalny and the political realities of modern-day Russia, but don't forget to read others as well: on Russian imperialism and colonialism, on Ukraine and its history, on freedom, on war.
October 31, 2024
How will history remember Alexey Navalny? What would be written upon his epithet? He was a good man, maybe to some even a great man. He was many things to many people. One thing is definite, he will be remembered as the man Putin was more afraid of on this earth, and that is the reason above all others that he must be silenced and was murdered. I am sure the Russia people will remember that they were loved by Alexey and he kept his promise. He promised he would never abandon them, even though he knew by returning to Russia he would most likely be arrested on some trumped up charge and end up in prison.
In this memoir which is a history for Alexey and in his own words of the story of his life and how/why he became the person he was. He starts the memoir/diary when he was poisoned by a nerve agent, what it felt like and recovering. Also he talks a deal about why he is doing what he feels compelled to due, regarding the corruption and current situation in Russia. Also in the memoir are his thoughts on Chernobyl, the interference in the United States 2016 election, his wife, family and supporters, Russia, the war against Ukraine and the Putin government.
His wish for Russia "They would be happy"
I felt this was an excellent tribute to Alexey and would recommend all to read/listen to the final thoughts of a great patriot.
In this memoir which is a history for Alexey and in his own words of the story of his life and how/why he became the person he was. He starts the memoir/diary when he was poisoned by a nerve agent, what it felt like and recovering. Also he talks a deal about why he is doing what he feels compelled to due, regarding the corruption and current situation in Russia. Also in the memoir are his thoughts on Chernobyl, the interference in the United States 2016 election, his wife, family and supporters, Russia, the war against Ukraine and the Putin government.
His wish for Russia "They would be happy"
I felt this was an excellent tribute to Alexey and would recommend all to read/listen to the final thoughts of a great patriot.
Read
January 4, 2025I suspect this may be the worst book that I read in 2025.
Look as far as I can tell, if I ignore this book, Alexei Navalny was an effective mobiliser, a charismatic figure who inspired loyal and intelligent supporters.
But based on this book, well I've stepped in puddles with greater depth and profundity.
There are a bunch of one star reviews of this book saying he is an imperialist repeating the same old Russian nationalist tropes. In my opinion those all attribute far too much intellectual coherance and consistency to Navalny at least on the evidence of his own writing.
Ok, I tend to think that most politicians tend to be tactical rather than strategic, to use a military metaphor, but Navalny takes it further appearing to have a degree of naivety so great as to become effectively a form of stupidity.
As a book, leaving him aside, I think this is rather lacking too. Here and there, there are footnotes giving additional information, even a couple of passages in italics providing context but not explaining basic essentials such as how his prison writings got out of prison when in his own words he was strip searched twice on his way to his lawyers and only able to see them with a glass screen separating them. Where his lawyers expert lipreaders? Did Navalny use sign language? Were prison warders bribed? Why did he ask his wife to recommend an introductory video about meditation? Did he have access to the internet in prison!? This is where the reader needs more editorial context and explanation, that we don't get it suggests thatvthe book was rushed out in to print to maximize sales before Navalny becomes another name that we the public have forgotten.
Nor is basic information about the Russian prison system explained - in some prisons he could go apparently regularly to a shop to buy food or clothes, while in others not, sometimes he seems to be alone in a cell, at others in a group, in one prison he can watch Euronews on the TV, but not in others. Ok, I can imagine, it's Russia, it's arbitrary and inconsistent - the Tsar is far off and God far above and all that, but still an editorial note to that effect would have been nice.
So far as I can tell Navalny was commissioned to write this book as an autobiography, at a point in time when, hopefully, his commisioning editor didn't think Navalny would end up in prison, and Navalny certainly didn't think he would. If you expect to find in a politician's autobiography a sense of this is who I am, this is what I believe, these are the people, the experiences that formed me - that is what we don't find here. Except implicitly. Navalny mentions watching political talkshows with his mother while a teenager. My sense is that this completely formed his sense of politics - ie that you say things to establish a bond with the viewer, while winning their goodwill is the only thing that matters, pushing your debating opponent into loosing their temper but staying calm yourself or giving out snappy soundbites is winning. Even in countries with open political systems and more or less free or fair elections there is a difference between performing well in debates and being an effective political force. In Russia under Putin, I never had a sense of how Navalny imagined he could move from exposing corruption and holding rallies to winning power, to changing the country. He literally mentions winning in the court of public opinion at one stage as if yeah, that's going to save you from arrest and mistreatment. At the same time, there's no sense of him perceiving himself as a martyr, or that suffering or dying as an anti-Putin might advance his politics either, only that he seriously did not believe that he would be arrested when he returned to Russia after having been poisoned with Novichok.
As a young man he decides to get involved in politics and considers all parties that are not United Russia equally, I think I am basically too brmused to write coherently any more, he seriously gave consideration to Vladimir Zhironvsky's Liberal Democratic Party which even in it's early days was recognised as a Kremlin stooge fake-opposition grouping. Navalny gives the impression of being a bit naive, always the little bit shocked by his Ukrainian relatives not liking Lenin - a dislike that he feels he has to contextualize to his readers, the idea that people might not like Lenin is apparently incomprehensible.
I saw the awayd winning "Navalny" documentary. From that I was left with a rather positive image of Navalny, after having read his own book I think much worse of him, he just wasn't a serious person as far as I can tell. The Putin regime comes across as role playing Stalinism, no that's unfair, role playing the Brezhnev years with extra international power projection without enthuasiam or skill, perhaps rather overwhelmed by the plates that it is trying to keep spinning.
From other reviews I get the impression that editions of this book vary in content.
The young Navalny has two brightly coloured beer cans from outside the Soviet bloc; they put me in mind of Lea Ypi and her family coca cola can in her memoir "Free". Ypi admittedly studied philosophy rather than law, still her memoir shows self awareness, interest and understanding of the difference between her own perceptions and those of others, a drive towards understanding herself in the context of the family and society that shaped her. This kind of reflectiveness and evidence of an interior life is absent from Navalny's self-presentation, as a reader all I could sense was superficiality.
As I said I read this after the Navalny documentary film which posits Chornobyl as the experience which formed his political outlook, that does not come through as strongly in the book which instead puts more stress on the sudden freedoms of the Yelstin years. The evasiveness and incomplete manner in which he mentions the Rusdian marches leaves me with the impression that this is a problematic area fir him to address, while writing that he thinks that everyone involved in pogroms should be prosecuted gives the impression that so long as you only kill a couple of people and limit the destruction of property that violence against those not judged to be a dedirable part of the political community is acceptable. Maybe that is not what he meant, in which case where was the editor. And it strikes me that for him a right of return of ethnic Russians to Russia might not be simply a voluntary matter, but involve some degree of state cohersion. Suggests the editor was seriously negligent, or that Navalny was, if one thinks of De Tocqueville unsurprisingly, is offering his supporters the same old Kremlin politics but better. Which brings to mind the story about Gandhi being asked what he thought about western civilisation and replying that it might be a good thing if it existed. A Russian opposition, what is it actually opposing? A change of the person with the top job in the Kremlin doesn't promise much chance of change out in the backwoods, when Navalny writes of the regions not feeding Moscow anymore does he understand the implications. Shifting the distribution of wealth from Putin's circle to provide education and healthcare sounds nice but if that is predicated on the same old economic model of extracting mineral resources for export he is still proposing extracting wealth from poorer and generallyenvironmentally sensitive regions to benefit metropolitan zones.
Anyway this book convincingly shifted me from giving Navalny the benefit of the doubt, to feeling very suspicious of him and his politics. Good writing always makes its impact.
Look as far as I can tell, if I ignore this book, Alexei Navalny was an effective mobiliser, a charismatic figure who inspired loyal and intelligent supporters.
But based on this book, well I've stepped in puddles with greater depth and profundity.
There are a bunch of one star reviews of this book saying he is an imperialist repeating the same old Russian nationalist tropes. In my opinion those all attribute far too much intellectual coherance and consistency to Navalny at least on the evidence of his own writing.
Ok, I tend to think that most politicians tend to be tactical rather than strategic, to use a military metaphor, but Navalny takes it further appearing to have a degree of naivety so great as to become effectively a form of stupidity.
As a book, leaving him aside, I think this is rather lacking too. Here and there, there are footnotes giving additional information, even a couple of passages in italics providing context but not explaining basic essentials such as how his prison writings got out of prison when in his own words he was strip searched twice on his way to his lawyers and only able to see them with a glass screen separating them. Where his lawyers expert lipreaders? Did Navalny use sign language? Were prison warders bribed? Why did he ask his wife to recommend an introductory video about meditation? Did he have access to the internet in prison!? This is where the reader needs more editorial context and explanation, that we don't get it suggests thatvthe book was rushed out in to print to maximize sales before Navalny becomes another name that we the public have forgotten.
Nor is basic information about the Russian prison system explained - in some prisons he could go apparently regularly to a shop to buy food or clothes, while in others not, sometimes he seems to be alone in a cell, at others in a group, in one prison he can watch Euronews on the TV, but not in others. Ok, I can imagine, it's Russia, it's arbitrary and inconsistent - the Tsar is far off and God far above and all that, but still an editorial note to that effect would have been nice.
So far as I can tell Navalny was commissioned to write this book as an autobiography, at a point in time when, hopefully, his commisioning editor didn't think Navalny would end up in prison, and Navalny certainly didn't think he would. If you expect to find in a politician's autobiography a sense of this is who I am, this is what I believe, these are the people, the experiences that formed me - that is what we don't find here. Except implicitly. Navalny mentions watching political talkshows with his mother while a teenager. My sense is that this completely formed his sense of politics - ie that you say things to establish a bond with the viewer, while winning their goodwill is the only thing that matters, pushing your debating opponent into loosing their temper but staying calm yourself or giving out snappy soundbites is winning. Even in countries with open political systems and more or less free or fair elections there is a difference between performing well in debates and being an effective political force. In Russia under Putin, I never had a sense of how Navalny imagined he could move from exposing corruption and holding rallies to winning power, to changing the country. He literally mentions winning in the court of public opinion at one stage as if yeah, that's going to save you from arrest and mistreatment. At the same time, there's no sense of him perceiving himself as a martyr, or that suffering or dying as an anti-Putin might advance his politics either, only that he seriously did not believe that he would be arrested when he returned to Russia after having been poisoned with Novichok.
As a young man he decides to get involved in politics and considers all parties that are not United Russia equally, I think I am basically too brmused to write coherently any more, he seriously gave consideration to Vladimir Zhironvsky's Liberal Democratic Party which even in it's early days was recognised as a Kremlin stooge fake-opposition grouping. Navalny gives the impression of being a bit naive, always the little bit shocked by his Ukrainian relatives not liking Lenin - a dislike that he feels he has to contextualize to his readers, the idea that people might not like Lenin is apparently incomprehensible.
I saw the awayd winning "Navalny" documentary. From that I was left with a rather positive image of Navalny, after having read his own book I think much worse of him, he just wasn't a serious person as far as I can tell. The Putin regime comes across as role playing Stalinism, no that's unfair, role playing the Brezhnev years with extra international power projection without enthuasiam or skill, perhaps rather overwhelmed by the plates that it is trying to keep spinning.
From other reviews I get the impression that editions of this book vary in content.
The young Navalny has two brightly coloured beer cans from outside the Soviet bloc; they put me in mind of Lea Ypi and her family coca cola can in her memoir "Free". Ypi admittedly studied philosophy rather than law, still her memoir shows self awareness, interest and understanding of the difference between her own perceptions and those of others, a drive towards understanding herself in the context of the family and society that shaped her. This kind of reflectiveness and evidence of an interior life is absent from Navalny's self-presentation, as a reader all I could sense was superficiality.
As I said I read this after the Navalny documentary film which posits Chornobyl as the experience which formed his political outlook, that does not come through as strongly in the book which instead puts more stress on the sudden freedoms of the Yelstin years. The evasiveness and incomplete manner in which he mentions the Rusdian marches leaves me with the impression that this is a problematic area fir him to address, while writing that he thinks that everyone involved in pogroms should be prosecuted gives the impression that so long as you only kill a couple of people and limit the destruction of property that violence against those not judged to be a dedirable part of the political community is acceptable. Maybe that is not what he meant, in which case where was the editor. And it strikes me that for him a right of return of ethnic Russians to Russia might not be simply a voluntary matter, but involve some degree of state cohersion. Suggests the editor was seriously negligent, or that Navalny was, if one thinks of De Tocqueville unsurprisingly, is offering his supporters the same old Kremlin politics but better. Which brings to mind the story about Gandhi being asked what he thought about western civilisation and replying that it might be a good thing if it existed. A Russian opposition, what is it actually opposing? A change of the person with the top job in the Kremlin doesn't promise much chance of change out in the backwoods, when Navalny writes of the regions not feeding Moscow anymore does he understand the implications. Shifting the distribution of wealth from Putin's circle to provide education and healthcare sounds nice but if that is predicated on the same old economic model of extracting mineral resources for export he is still proposing extracting wealth from poorer and generallyenvironmentally sensitive regions to benefit metropolitan zones.
Anyway this book convincingly shifted me from giving Navalny the benefit of the doubt, to feeling very suspicious of him and his politics. Good writing always makes its impact.
October 30, 2024
One of the most moving books I have ever read; I usually steer clear of political memoirs as they all to often consist of a series of boasts as to what the writer achieved or a distortion of the truth to justify their actions. This memoir aims at neither, it is at once the story of an incredibly brave campaigner against corruption and an indictment of the leadership of Russia from the days of Gorbachev onwards but most particularly of Putin. The book starts with the (ultimately failed attempt) to kill Navalny by poison and his recovery from the attempt and his return to Russia and then becomes a conventional autobiography covering his childhood, political activism and frequent arrests and short term detentions. On his return to Russia he was arrested and remained in custody for the rest of his life. The most significant part of the book details the conditions in which he was held and the "trials" (some of which put Stalin to shame) that led to him being kept in increasingly harsh conditions. In a very moving section he recalls a conversation with his equally brave wife Yulia in which they agreed ,two years before he died, that the only way his incarceration would end would be either his death or the demise of the regime- we know now which it was
March 10, 2025
Today, 16th February, 2025 marks the first anniversary of Alexei Navalny's death. I remember visiting Chicago at Christmastime in 2023 and being moved to tears when I saw a group of people peacefully demonstrating for Navalny's release from a brutal Siberian prison. His courage to fight for his dream of a peaceful and equitable Russia inspired people around the world. I read to understand more about his life and mission.
It's now March 8th, 2025 and I have read his final words. This is truly a remarkable book written by an amazing, courageous man who dared to stand up to and run against Putin. His love of Russia and the Russian people drove him forward and caused him to return to Russia after his recovery from nerve agent poisoning. He writes, “To fight for Russia, to save Russia, is to fight for the removal of Putin and his kleptocrats. But now that also means to fight for peace.”
His recovery from the nerve agent poisoning took months. He writes, “A physiotherapist came to see me every day. She was a nice person, but she forced me to do the most difficult things I have done in my life."
Initially during his recovery Navalny didn’t recognize Yulia as his wife – however he was drawn like a magnet to this beautiful visitor (Yulia) and he writes, “My sole pastime is to be waiting for Her to come […] She doesn’t have a low, sympathizing voice but speaks cheerfully and laughs. She is telling me something. When She is near, my idiotic hallucinations retreat. It feels very good when She is there.”
Later, Navalny tells us their love story, and describes seeing Yulia for the very first time, “Her face shone with such lovely, childlike delight.” This vision inspired him and, “looking at her, [he] couldn’t help smiling.” Yulia catches his gaze and smiles back and he decides there and then, “This is the girl I will marry."
Their daughter Dasha was born in 2001. Alexei is in her thrall and as he watches her develop and he decides that there had to be more to life than evolution alone. “From a dyed-in-the-wool atheist, [he] gradually became a religious person.”
Upon the birth of a son, Zakhar he writes, “Hurray, I now had both a daughter and a son! Barbie’s army would be joined by a fleet of toy cars!”
Navalny gained a place at Yale where he hoped to learn more about “the U.S. and European anti-money-laundering legislation. [He] also wanted to see the world." He writes of being a lawyer: “It did not take me long to understand that a good lawyer was not someone who knew everything but someone who knew what he needed to read and where to find it.”
He became involved in politics and writes that he “wanted to see a politician appear who would undertake all sorts of needed, interesting projects and cooperate directly with the Russian people. If such a person had appeared, I would immediately have set to work with them jointly. I waited and waited, and one day I realized I could be that person myself.”
By 2011, he anticipated being arrested at the border each time he returned home to Russia due to his work to uncover, expose and litigate corruption in Russia. He had the financial backing of “sixteen public figures.” In fact, “these sixteen brave people broke the very important social taboo that you never fund a cause you believed in without prior permission.”
Navalny writes about his first arrest, which was in the aftermath of a surprisingly well attended “rally against ballot rigging.” Attendees enjoying their shared passion for truth in elections didn’t want to disperse and return home, so they continued to gather. Navalny was arrested by the riot police who “had tolerated an authorized rally, but such a manifestation of freedom loving provoked them beyond endurance.” He received the maximum fifteen days detention for “disobeying the instructions of a police officer.”
On December 10, 2011, while still in detention and cut off from the world outside, an amazing crowd of 100,000 people gathered “in Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square, protesting electoral fraud.” Navalny couldn’t believe his ears when he finally learned this piece of great news.
“The year 2012 set a pattern in my life, an endless vicious circle for many years to come: protest rally, arrest, protest rally, arrest.” He writes that, “In bringing cases against me, the Kremlin had two aims. The first was to stop me from being active in politics. The second goal was character assassination.”
In response to the authorities imprisoning his brother Oleg without reason to try to stop Navalny from his work as an activist he says that “they won’t stop me even by taking hostages.”
“People have a legal right to rise up against this illegal, corrupt power, against this junta that has grabbed and stolen everything it could, that has siphoned trillions of dollars out of the country in the form of oil and gas.”
He stands by his conviction to tell the truth: “Maybe this is going to sound naïve, and I know it’s become the norm to laugh ironically and sneer at these words, but I call on absolutely everyone not to live by lies. There is no other way. There can be no other solution in our country today.”
In Barnaul in March 2017 and then, again in Moscow in April of the same year, Navalny was attacked with the antiseptic solution zelyonka. In the first attack his face turned the same color as the solution, bright green, and in the second attack he was left temporarily blind in one eye, “the zelyonka had been deliberately mixed with some sort of poison, and [his] cornea had been burned.”
In 2020 Navalny mistakenly thought that he was “too big a public figure for them to risk killing.” When Boris Nemtsov, an insider who “knew Putin personally and had worked with him for many years […] was shot dead two hundred meters from the Kremlin” Navalny realized that no-one is safe.
Indeed, he writes, “We have no idea what’ll happen next. There’s one specific madman named Vladimir Putin. And sometimes something twists in his brain, he writes a name down on a piece of paper and says, “Kill him.””
Navalny considers all his options including emigrating and concludes, “It’s simply that deep down I know I have to do this, that this is my life’s work.”
In primary school, Navalny’s son, Zakhar, answered the question of what his father did as follows: “My daddy is fighting against bad people for the future of our country.” Navalny describes this as “the greatest moment of his life.”
In February 2021 Navalny was put in prison. He was moved several times and moved to a new prison after each verdict. The conditions at each new prison he was transferred to were increasingly more dire.
“In August 2023, he was sentenced to nineteen years in an even more severe “special regime” colony for “extremism.”” Then, in December 2023 he was removed from the colony to an undisclosed location. No-one close to him knew where he was until, “on December 25, he was found to be in a prison beyond the Artic Circle. On February 16, 2024, Alexei Navalny was killed in that prison.”
In his diary entries Navalny talks about his faith and refers to the beatitudes of the Bible. He also refers to philosophy from Luna Lovegood (a character from the Harry Potter books): Luna tells Harry, “When times are hard, it’s important not to feel lonely, because if I were Voldemort, I would really want you to feel lonely.” Navalny adds, “Our own Voldemort with his palace wants that too.”
About Russia he writes: After the Soviet Union fell and there was no longer a central power, “organized crime appeared overnight and immediately assumed a hugely important role in public life.” Gangs of armed men led by authoritative leaders roamed the streets keeping a kind of order.
“In any biographical article about Putin there will be many passages describing his connections with “authoritative entrepreneurs.” It is a euphemism everyone understands for crooks or members of a criminal gang.” He adds that, “I hate Putin because he has stolen the last twenty years from Russia.”
Previously, people stayed away from someone who’d been in prison, however now they were seen as resourceful people with connections who will “be able to solve our problems.”
"Russia is my country. I was born and raised here, my parents are here, and I made a family here; I found someone I loved and had kids with her. I am a full-fledged citizen, and I have the right to unite with like-minded people and be politically active. There are plenty of us, certainly more than corrupt judges, lying propagandists, and Kremlin crooks.”
“I’m not going to surrender my country to them, and I believe that the darkness will eventually yield. But as long as it persists, I will do all I can, try to do what is right, and urge everyone not to abandon hope. Russia will be happy!”
On why he returned to Russia from Germany after recovering from being poisoned: “By coming back to Russia, I fulfilled my promise to the voters. There need to be some people in Russia who don’t lie to them.”
“My convictions are not exotic, sectarian, or radical. On the contrary, everything I believe in is based on science and historical experience.”
“Those in power should change. The best way to elect leaders is through honest and free elections. Everyone needs a fair legal system. Corruption destroys the state. There should be no censorship.”
“The future lies in these principles.”
Additionally, Navalny wrote fifteen Theses for Russia. Number six is: "Russia has to leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop the way its people want. Stop the aggression, end the war, and withdraw all its troops from Ukraine. Continuation of this war is just hysteria caused by powerlessness, and putting an end to it would be a strong move."
May he rest in peace and may we never forget him and continue the work that he achieved to bring truth, peace and happiness to Russia.
It's now March 8th, 2025 and I have read his final words. This is truly a remarkable book written by an amazing, courageous man who dared to stand up to and run against Putin. His love of Russia and the Russian people drove him forward and caused him to return to Russia after his recovery from nerve agent poisoning. He writes, “To fight for Russia, to save Russia, is to fight for the removal of Putin and his kleptocrats. But now that also means to fight for peace.”
His recovery from the nerve agent poisoning took months. He writes, “A physiotherapist came to see me every day. She was a nice person, but she forced me to do the most difficult things I have done in my life."
Initially during his recovery Navalny didn’t recognize Yulia as his wife – however he was drawn like a magnet to this beautiful visitor (Yulia) and he writes, “My sole pastime is to be waiting for Her to come […] She doesn’t have a low, sympathizing voice but speaks cheerfully and laughs. She is telling me something. When She is near, my idiotic hallucinations retreat. It feels very good when She is there.”
Later, Navalny tells us their love story, and describes seeing Yulia for the very first time, “Her face shone with such lovely, childlike delight.” This vision inspired him and, “looking at her, [he] couldn’t help smiling.” Yulia catches his gaze and smiles back and he decides there and then, “This is the girl I will marry."
Their daughter Dasha was born in 2001. Alexei is in her thrall and as he watches her develop and he decides that there had to be more to life than evolution alone. “From a dyed-in-the-wool atheist, [he] gradually became a religious person.”
Upon the birth of a son, Zakhar he writes, “Hurray, I now had both a daughter and a son! Barbie’s army would be joined by a fleet of toy cars!”
Navalny gained a place at Yale where he hoped to learn more about “the U.S. and European anti-money-laundering legislation. [He] also wanted to see the world." He writes of being a lawyer: “It did not take me long to understand that a good lawyer was not someone who knew everything but someone who knew what he needed to read and where to find it.”
He became involved in politics and writes that he “wanted to see a politician appear who would undertake all sorts of needed, interesting projects and cooperate directly with the Russian people. If such a person had appeared, I would immediately have set to work with them jointly. I waited and waited, and one day I realized I could be that person myself.”
By 2011, he anticipated being arrested at the border each time he returned home to Russia due to his work to uncover, expose and litigate corruption in Russia. He had the financial backing of “sixteen public figures.” In fact, “these sixteen brave people broke the very important social taboo that you never fund a cause you believed in without prior permission.”
Navalny writes about his first arrest, which was in the aftermath of a surprisingly well attended “rally against ballot rigging.” Attendees enjoying their shared passion for truth in elections didn’t want to disperse and return home, so they continued to gather. Navalny was arrested by the riot police who “had tolerated an authorized rally, but such a manifestation of freedom loving provoked them beyond endurance.” He received the maximum fifteen days detention for “disobeying the instructions of a police officer.”
On December 10, 2011, while still in detention and cut off from the world outside, an amazing crowd of 100,000 people gathered “in Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square, protesting electoral fraud.” Navalny couldn’t believe his ears when he finally learned this piece of great news.
“The year 2012 set a pattern in my life, an endless vicious circle for many years to come: protest rally, arrest, protest rally, arrest.” He writes that, “In bringing cases against me, the Kremlin had two aims. The first was to stop me from being active in politics. The second goal was character assassination.”
In response to the authorities imprisoning his brother Oleg without reason to try to stop Navalny from his work as an activist he says that “they won’t stop me even by taking hostages.”
“People have a legal right to rise up against this illegal, corrupt power, against this junta that has grabbed and stolen everything it could, that has siphoned trillions of dollars out of the country in the form of oil and gas.”
He stands by his conviction to tell the truth: “Maybe this is going to sound naïve, and I know it’s become the norm to laugh ironically and sneer at these words, but I call on absolutely everyone not to live by lies. There is no other way. There can be no other solution in our country today.”
In Barnaul in March 2017 and then, again in Moscow in April of the same year, Navalny was attacked with the antiseptic solution zelyonka. In the first attack his face turned the same color as the solution, bright green, and in the second attack he was left temporarily blind in one eye, “the zelyonka had been deliberately mixed with some sort of poison, and [his] cornea had been burned.”
In 2020 Navalny mistakenly thought that he was “too big a public figure for them to risk killing.” When Boris Nemtsov, an insider who “knew Putin personally and had worked with him for many years […] was shot dead two hundred meters from the Kremlin” Navalny realized that no-one is safe.
Indeed, he writes, “We have no idea what’ll happen next. There’s one specific madman named Vladimir Putin. And sometimes something twists in his brain, he writes a name down on a piece of paper and says, “Kill him.””
Navalny considers all his options including emigrating and concludes, “It’s simply that deep down I know I have to do this, that this is my life’s work.”
In primary school, Navalny’s son, Zakhar, answered the question of what his father did as follows: “My daddy is fighting against bad people for the future of our country.” Navalny describes this as “the greatest moment of his life.”
In February 2021 Navalny was put in prison. He was moved several times and moved to a new prison after each verdict. The conditions at each new prison he was transferred to were increasingly more dire.
“In August 2023, he was sentenced to nineteen years in an even more severe “special regime” colony for “extremism.”” Then, in December 2023 he was removed from the colony to an undisclosed location. No-one close to him knew where he was until, “on December 25, he was found to be in a prison beyond the Artic Circle. On February 16, 2024, Alexei Navalny was killed in that prison.”
In his diary entries Navalny talks about his faith and refers to the beatitudes of the Bible. He also refers to philosophy from Luna Lovegood (a character from the Harry Potter books): Luna tells Harry, “When times are hard, it’s important not to feel lonely, because if I were Voldemort, I would really want you to feel lonely.” Navalny adds, “Our own Voldemort with his palace wants that too.”
About Russia he writes: After the Soviet Union fell and there was no longer a central power, “organized crime appeared overnight and immediately assumed a hugely important role in public life.” Gangs of armed men led by authoritative leaders roamed the streets keeping a kind of order.
“In any biographical article about Putin there will be many passages describing his connections with “authoritative entrepreneurs.” It is a euphemism everyone understands for crooks or members of a criminal gang.” He adds that, “I hate Putin because he has stolen the last twenty years from Russia.”
Previously, people stayed away from someone who’d been in prison, however now they were seen as resourceful people with connections who will “be able to solve our problems.”
"Russia is my country. I was born and raised here, my parents are here, and I made a family here; I found someone I loved and had kids with her. I am a full-fledged citizen, and I have the right to unite with like-minded people and be politically active. There are plenty of us, certainly more than corrupt judges, lying propagandists, and Kremlin crooks.”
“I’m not going to surrender my country to them, and I believe that the darkness will eventually yield. But as long as it persists, I will do all I can, try to do what is right, and urge everyone not to abandon hope. Russia will be happy!”
On why he returned to Russia from Germany after recovering from being poisoned: “By coming back to Russia, I fulfilled my promise to the voters. There need to be some people in Russia who don’t lie to them.”
“My convictions are not exotic, sectarian, or radical. On the contrary, everything I believe in is based on science and historical experience.”
“Those in power should change. The best way to elect leaders is through honest and free elections. Everyone needs a fair legal system. Corruption destroys the state. There should be no censorship.”
“The future lies in these principles.”
Additionally, Navalny wrote fifteen Theses for Russia. Number six is: "Russia has to leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop the way its people want. Stop the aggression, end the war, and withdraw all its troops from Ukraine. Continuation of this war is just hysteria caused by powerlessness, and putting an end to it would be a strong move."
May he rest in peace and may we never forget him and continue the work that he achieved to bring truth, peace and happiness to Russia.
November 13, 2024
Same putin, same imperialist
Read
January 31, 2025Nu-mi iese din minte gândul că nimeni n-a putut să-l salveze pe Navalnîi. Într-o lume în care era notoriu, în care toată suflarea știa ca e un individ nevinovat, a fost închis, plimbat între diferite pușcării până la o exterminare în conditii incerte. Certă e doar crima evidentă și strigatoare la cer. Toți rușii care l-au susținut, toți ziariștii lumii, reporterii, oamenii politici, guvernele care înțelegeau pe deplin pericolul în care este, toată opinia publică, demonstrațiile, manifestele, discursurile, petițiile, nimic, nimic n-a avut puterea să împiedice suprimarea lui. Îmi pare rău, foarte rău că o asemenea persoană a fost lăsată să alunece printre degetele unei sorți mai bune, merita cu prisosință să ne batem pentru el așa cum el s-a bătut pentru un principiu, pentru o idee și pentru ca cei mai slabi să nu poarte greutatea unei asemenea misiuni. El n-a cedat, însă restul lumii a facut-o. Putin a câștigat pentru că n-are niciun scrupul și nu respecta nicio lege, nicio valoare, își ucide compatrioții la fel ca pe dușmani. La fel pe aliații care ar putea oricând sa cada în dizgrație si la fel pe oricine care i s-ar opune. Restul omenirii stă neputincioasă cu mănușile pe mâini și așteaptă deznodamantul tragic al scenariilor care-l conțin pe dementul planetei.
Mascarada de care e în stare regimul de la Moscova este de domeniul absurdului. Ordinele lui Putin pot pune în scena cele mai absurde acțiuni, procesele intentate lui Navalnîi sunt dovada cea ma elocventă că nu există nicio limită. Ceea ce s-a făcut cu el poate este repetat de mii de ori cu persoane de care nu vom afla niciodata pentru că nimeni nu va vorbi vreodată despre ele, poate doar rudele lor disperate, mame, soții, fii și fiice.
Înțelegem oare ce înseamnă o țară în care justiția nu există, în care opoziția este tocată și asasinată fără scrupule, în care un om poate decide să facă orice cu oricine? Deși România a avut perioade similare și încă este coruptă în toate straturile ei, sper ca nu vom mai cunoaște o asemenea teroare și că nu vom mai lasa vreodată sa germineze în vreun cotlon un Putin sau un Ceaușescu. Pentru că nu exista ceva care sa schilodească mai mult un popor decât lipsa de libertate. Și, sa fim serioși, nu toată lumea are în istoria de azi un Navalnîi. Nu în timpurile astea profund egoiste în care fiecare se pune doar pe sine pe primul loc.
Este ceva foarte simplu și direct în textul lui Navalnîi. Ceva foarte puțin sofisticat și mereu obiectiv. N-a fost un om al sensibilităților afișate și cred ca a avut mereu tracul omului stingherit de propria emotivitate. S-a simțit bine in postura de reporter, de avocat, de combatant care dezbate, de om care demască și demonstrează nedreptatea, evaziunea, minciuna, ticăloșia. I-a plăcut sa spună răspicat adevărul, sa-l scoată la lumina ca pe un talisman. Arma lui a fost adevărul și s-a simțit în elementul lui doar câtă vreme l-a dezvaluit. A crezut ca vocea lui care rostea totul fără niciun echivoc ii va oferi imunitatea dată de fapta făcută în văzul tuturor, atât de cu neputință de ascuns și de tăgăduit. Nici măcar evidența cea mai flagrantă nu l-a salvat. Într-o lupta fără reguli nu poți lupta cinstit, din păcate, și doar prin asta să câștigi. Deși așa ar fi ideal. Mă întreb cât de diferit ar fi fost tonul jurnalului dacă ar fi intuit cât de aproape e moartea. Pentru că deși a luat-o în calcul, probabil cu sinceritate, nu cred ca a așteptat-o atât de repede. Nu cred ca n-a sperat cu adevărat sa-i supravietuiasca lui Putin și sa-i vadă regimul încheiat. Și merita cu prisosință sa vadă asta.
Pentru mine Navalnîi este un David de neclintit care s-a pus în fața lui Goliat și i-a zis: nu mi-e frica de tine. Orice mi-ai face n-am sa renunț sa-ti spun ca ești un hot, un ucigaș, un golan mincinos, un borfaș care a furat o țară, un profitor mizerabil. Plătesc oricât, dar n-am sa încetez să-ți spun asta în față. Și în fața lumii întregi. Și iată, spune și acum, după ce s-a dus de pe lumea asta. Păcat ca Rusia n-a avut statura lui și n-a avut puterea sa-l urmeze. Păcat, mare păcat.
Mascarada de care e în stare regimul de la Moscova este de domeniul absurdului. Ordinele lui Putin pot pune în scena cele mai absurde acțiuni, procesele intentate lui Navalnîi sunt dovada cea ma elocventă că nu există nicio limită. Ceea ce s-a făcut cu el poate este repetat de mii de ori cu persoane de care nu vom afla niciodata pentru că nimeni nu va vorbi vreodată despre ele, poate doar rudele lor disperate, mame, soții, fii și fiice.
Înțelegem oare ce înseamnă o țară în care justiția nu există, în care opoziția este tocată și asasinată fără scrupule, în care un om poate decide să facă orice cu oricine? Deși România a avut perioade similare și încă este coruptă în toate straturile ei, sper ca nu vom mai cunoaște o asemenea teroare și că nu vom mai lasa vreodată sa germineze în vreun cotlon un Putin sau un Ceaușescu. Pentru că nu exista ceva care sa schilodească mai mult un popor decât lipsa de libertate. Și, sa fim serioși, nu toată lumea are în istoria de azi un Navalnîi. Nu în timpurile astea profund egoiste în care fiecare se pune doar pe sine pe primul loc.
Este ceva foarte simplu și direct în textul lui Navalnîi. Ceva foarte puțin sofisticat și mereu obiectiv. N-a fost un om al sensibilităților afișate și cred ca a avut mereu tracul omului stingherit de propria emotivitate. S-a simțit bine in postura de reporter, de avocat, de combatant care dezbate, de om care demască și demonstrează nedreptatea, evaziunea, minciuna, ticăloșia. I-a plăcut sa spună răspicat adevărul, sa-l scoată la lumina ca pe un talisman. Arma lui a fost adevărul și s-a simțit în elementul lui doar câtă vreme l-a dezvaluit. A crezut ca vocea lui care rostea totul fără niciun echivoc ii va oferi imunitatea dată de fapta făcută în văzul tuturor, atât de cu neputință de ascuns și de tăgăduit. Nici măcar evidența cea mai flagrantă nu l-a salvat. Într-o lupta fără reguli nu poți lupta cinstit, din păcate, și doar prin asta să câștigi. Deși așa ar fi ideal. Mă întreb cât de diferit ar fi fost tonul jurnalului dacă ar fi intuit cât de aproape e moartea. Pentru că deși a luat-o în calcul, probabil cu sinceritate, nu cred ca a așteptat-o atât de repede. Nu cred ca n-a sperat cu adevărat sa-i supravietuiasca lui Putin și sa-i vadă regimul încheiat. Și merita cu prisosință sa vadă asta.
Pentru mine Navalnîi este un David de neclintit care s-a pus în fața lui Goliat și i-a zis: nu mi-e frica de tine. Orice mi-ai face n-am sa renunț sa-ti spun ca ești un hot, un ucigaș, un golan mincinos, un borfaș care a furat o țară, un profitor mizerabil. Plătesc oricât, dar n-am sa încetez să-ți spun asta în față. Și în fața lumii întregi. Și iată, spune și acum, după ce s-a dus de pe lumea asta. Păcat ca Rusia n-a avut statura lui și n-a avut puterea sa-l urmeze. Păcat, mare păcat.
July 20, 2025
“We must do what they fear- tell the truth, spread the truth. This is the most power weapon against this regime of liars, thieves, and hypocrites. Everyone has this weapon. So make use of it.“
For those who don't know who Alexei Navalny was, he was a vocal opponent to Russia’s corrupted government and especially to Vladimir Putin as well as an activist for the people of Russia. Putin even tried to have Alexie killed many times and even poisoned him in 2020. Alexei was eventually sent to a penal colony in the Arctic circle for speaking out against Putin where he passes away in 2024. Patriot is Alexei’s memoir that was published posthumously.
Patriot recounts Alexei’s early years, his family life, and meeting and eventually marrying his wife Yulia. In his own words, he discusses his call for action against Russia’s dictatorship and what the greatness he felt that Russia could be. Patriot gives us a behind the scenes glimpse at what Alexei went through as he recovered from the many assassination attempts on his life and how he survived in prison. Patriot also includes many private photos of Alexei through the years as well as never before seen prison correspondence.
Alexei was truly a hero to his people and such an inspiration for many worldwide. Reading about his relentless fight and courage for a better and peaceful Russia was nothing short of remarkable. Learning about Alexei’s life and the many ways he was tormented by his own government just by simply advocating for essentially basic human rights was devastating. I highly recommend Patriot to all.
Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny was published on October 22, 2024, so it is available now. Many thanks to AA Knopf for the gifted copy!
For those who don't know who Alexei Navalny was, he was a vocal opponent to Russia’s corrupted government and especially to Vladimir Putin as well as an activist for the people of Russia. Putin even tried to have Alexie killed many times and even poisoned him in 2020. Alexei was eventually sent to a penal colony in the Arctic circle for speaking out against Putin where he passes away in 2024. Patriot is Alexei’s memoir that was published posthumously.
Patriot recounts Alexei’s early years, his family life, and meeting and eventually marrying his wife Yulia. In his own words, he discusses his call for action against Russia’s dictatorship and what the greatness he felt that Russia could be. Patriot gives us a behind the scenes glimpse at what Alexei went through as he recovered from the many assassination attempts on his life and how he survived in prison. Patriot also includes many private photos of Alexei through the years as well as never before seen prison correspondence.
Alexei was truly a hero to his people and such an inspiration for many worldwide. Reading about his relentless fight and courage for a better and peaceful Russia was nothing short of remarkable. Learning about Alexei’s life and the many ways he was tormented by his own government just by simply advocating for essentially basic human rights was devastating. I highly recommend Patriot to all.
Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny was published on October 22, 2024, so it is available now. Many thanks to AA Knopf for the gifted copy!
August 15, 2025
Navalny's death only confirmed his status as an opposition leader and made him a martyr. Surely, Putin wanted him eliminated, politically rather than physically. The rigidity of the Russian penitentiary system is, in my opinion, to blame for Navalny's demise as he was frequently denied medical check-ups. The check-ups he did have were just for show.
3 stars for the memoir (the last third was a tad boring), 4 stars in general. It's more of a personal memoir, not a political statement
3 stars for the memoir (the last third was a tad boring), 4 stars in general. It's more of a personal memoir, not a political statement
October 11, 2025
”Но животът работи по такъв начин, че общественият прогрес и хубавото бъдеще могат да бъдат постигнати, само ако известен брой хора са склонни да платят цената за правото да имат свои възгледи. Колкото повече са те, толкова по-малко трябва да плащат всички.”
“Morituri te salutant" - “Тези, които ще умрат, те поздравяват”. Така е гласял поздравът на излизащите на арената гладиатори към римския император. Това е и посланието на Навални, като в него има много светлина и кураж. И най-истинския вид патриотизъм.
Няма нищо по-тъжно от затворническата проза. Най - добрите образци са руските - Русия има огромен опит в превръщането на мнозинството си жители в активни или пасивни палачи, а непокорното малцинството - в мъченици. Инакомислешите в Русия по традиция не искат чудеса или празни утопии - искат проста нормалност…
Голиат уби Давид в затворническата колония отвъд полярния кръг, като преди това с голямо доволство го подложи на гаври и изтезания. Но Давид все пак успя да изобличи цялото мръснишко, страхливо, подло, елементарно лицемерие и цинично беззаконие на Путин и палачите му. Миазмите, задушили нова Русия. Да, това лицемерие са всъщност арогантността и злобата на човека с калашника (или с ядрения бутон) пред невъоръжената му жертва. Злорадо перчене с безнаказаността. Това са то диктаторите. Само дето забравят две неща - има и смели хора; и дори сатрапите са смъртни (и никакви попове няма да ги отърват от ада).
———————————————————————
🩸"Във време на промени колебливостта е смъртен грях."
🩸"Хора като Путин гледат на СССР с носталгия, защото бяха поставени недостижимо по-високо от останалите."
🩸"...от абсолютен гняв, отчаяние и (парадоксално) най-вече от страх човек събира сили да извърши най-решителното и безразсъдно действие."
🩸"Някои налагат беззаконието върху теб мълчешком, а други го правят, питайки дали не искаш да ти донесат чай с резен пимон."
🩸"В XXI век човек не е изправен само пред механизмите на репресиращата държава, а и пред механизмите на пиара й."
🩸"Стигнало се е дотам, че в момента имаме хунта. Двайсетима души са станали милиардери и контролират всичко - от държавните поръчки до продажбата на нефт."
🩸"В Русия властта не се сменя с избори."
🩸"Нека най-накрая се превърнем в нормална страна. Това би било прекрасно.
Не е непостижимо."
🩸"Убиват, за да могат да крадат."
———————————————————————
📸 Снимки:
https://meduza.io/amp/feature/2024/03...
“Morituri te salutant" - “Тези, които ще умрат, те поздравяват”. Така е гласял поздравът на излизащите на арената гладиатори към римския император. Това е и посланието на Навални, като в него има много светлина и кураж. И най-истинския вид патриотизъм.
Няма нищо по-тъжно от затворническата проза. Най - добрите образци са руските - Русия има огромен опит в превръщането на мнозинството си жители в активни или пасивни палачи, а непокорното малцинството - в мъченици. Инакомислешите в Русия по традиция не искат чудеса или празни утопии - искат проста нормалност…
Голиат уби Давид в затворническата колония отвъд полярния кръг, като преди това с голямо доволство го подложи на гаври и изтезания. Но Давид все пак успя да изобличи цялото мръснишко, страхливо, подло, елементарно лицемерие и цинично беззаконие на Путин и палачите му. Миазмите, задушили нова Русия. Да, това лицемерие са всъщност арогантността и злобата на човека с калашника (или с ядрения бутон) пред невъоръжената му жертва. Злорадо перчене с безнаказаността. Това са то диктаторите. Само дето забравят две неща - има и смели хора; и дори сатрапите са смъртни (и никакви попове няма да ги отърват от ада).
———————————————————————
🩸"Във време на промени колебливостта е смъртен грях."
🩸"Хора като Путин гледат на СССР с носталгия, защото бяха поставени недостижимо по-високо от останалите."
🩸"...от абсолютен гняв, отчаяние и (парадоксално) най-вече от страх човек събира сили да извърши най-решителното и безразсъдно действие."
🩸"Някои налагат беззаконието върху теб мълчешком, а други го правят, питайки дали не искаш да ти донесат чай с резен пимон."
🩸"В XXI век човек не е изправен само пред механизмите на репресиращата държава, а и пред механизмите на пиара й."
🩸"Стигнало се е дотам, че в момента имаме хунта. Двайсетима души са станали милиардери и контролират всичко - от държавните поръчки до продажбата на нефт."
🩸"В Русия властта не се сменя с избори."
🩸"Нека най-накрая се превърнем в нормална страна. Това би било прекрасно.
Не е непостижимо."
🩸"Убиват, за да могат да крадат."
———————————————————————
📸 Снимки:
https://meduza.io/amp/feature/2024/03...
November 3, 2024
Alexei Navalny will go down as one of the most important figures of the century. His story is inspiring, brave, and somehow finds ways to make people smile despite sitting in a prison cell. As an American, this is story of what our country can become and to do anyone that challenges the status quo; dictated by someone who controls the media and is forever immune to the law. Sound familiar?
November 15, 2024
russian “opposition” is the same piece of dookie, just masking as opposition, but pushing very convenient ideas for naive and sometimes not very bright western citizens: empire shouldn’t fall, they don’t have imperialistic mindset, russians aren’t responsible for war only Putin, equating victim with aggressor etc. Boring and irritating. People, get smart.
October 25, 2024
Fascinating history. Hats off to Navalny for his fortitude to fight corruption in Russia. Book meandered a bit when he writes from prison. 4.5
November 8, 2024
Первые несколько страниц не покидало ощущение, что у меня в голове слова книги озвучиваются голосом Навального... Потом я погрузился в повествование и это ощущение прошло.
Книга читается очень легко, но какая же она тяжёлая из-за того что точно знаешь чем она закончится. И как же больно от того что такого смелого и умного человека власть сгноила в тюрьме. Я пару раз за книгу принимался плакать, и несколько раз рассмеялся в голос, но если вы чувствуете, что ещё слишком мало времени прошло и ещё слишком больно, то пока не читайте - после неё будет ещё больнее.
Прости Алексей.
Вечная память.
Книга читается очень легко, но какая же она тяжёлая из-за того что точно знаешь чем она закончится. И как же больно от того что такого смелого и умного человека власть сгноила в тюрьме. Я пару раз за книгу принимался плакать, и несколько раз рассмеялся в голос, но если вы чувствуете, что ещё слишком мало времени прошло и ещё слишком больно, то пока не читайте - после неё будет ещё больнее.
Прости Алексей.
Вечная память.
April 13, 2025
His memoir and prison diary. If I thought he’d read it, I’d send a copy to the U. S. president.
5*
I’ll try to string some thoughts together some time soon. Meanwhile, an extract from his prison diary will have to suffice:
‘January 17th 2022
Exactly one year ago today I came home, to Russia [from Germany, where he’d been treated for Novichok poisoning].
I didn’t manage to take a single step on the soil of my country as a free man: I was arrested even before border control.
The hero of one of my favourite books, Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy, says, “Yes, the only suitable place for an honest man in Russia at the present time is in prison”.
It sounds fine, but it was wrong then and it’s even more wrong now.
There are a lot of honest people in Russia – tens of millions. There are far more than is commonly believed.
The authorities, however, who were repugnant then and are even more so now, are afraid not of honest people but of those who are not afraid of them. Or let me be more precise: those who may be afraid, but overcome their fear.
There are a lot of them too.’
5*
I’ll try to string some thoughts together some time soon. Meanwhile, an extract from his prison diary will have to suffice:
‘January 17th 2022
Exactly one year ago today I came home, to Russia [from Germany, where he’d been treated for Novichok poisoning].
I didn’t manage to take a single step on the soil of my country as a free man: I was arrested even before border control.
The hero of one of my favourite books, Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy, says, “Yes, the only suitable place for an honest man in Russia at the present time is in prison”.
It sounds fine, but it was wrong then and it’s even more wrong now.
There are a lot of honest people in Russia – tens of millions. There are far more than is commonly believed.
The authorities, however, who were repugnant then and are even more so now, are afraid not of honest people but of those who are not afraid of them. Or let me be more precise: those who may be afraid, but overcome their fear.
There are a lot of them too.’
October 31, 2024
An excellent, powerful and important book. Serious content delivered with sincerity and also with Navalny’s sense of humour, his charisma shines through. In the face of death, Navalny’s bravery never faltered.
January 16, 2025
Nu am simțit niciodată cu adevărat admirație pentru Alexei Navalnîi, deși ducea lupta dreaptă, din punctul meu de vedere, cea împotriva unui dictator monstruos. Pentru că era lupta dreaptă, dar modul de a lupta mi se părea narcisic, simțeam complexul lui Mesia în el.
Chiar și acum, după ce i-am ascultat memoriile, simt mai multă compasiune decât admirație. Impresia de mesianism nu mi-a fost ștearsă (era și greu, odată ce am descoperit zelul religios și optimismul foarte ciudat al prizonierului Navalnîi - poate simple mecanisme de supraviețuire ale unui om aflat într-o situație limită, poate trăsăturile unui zelot).
Desigur, dacă aș nota curajul și spiritul de sacrificiu pentru convingerile proprii, aș da 5*. Dar e greu să o fac după ce am citit relatările mult mai profunde și detaliate ale Annei Politkovskaia sau Svetlanei Aleksievici despre regimul Putin și Rusia post-sovietică. Din punct de vedere uman sigur că e emoționant, dar din punct de vedere informațional are destul de puțină substanță, ceea ce e ciudat venind de la un om aflat în miezul evenimentelor.
[Nu m-a ajutat nici lectura excesiv dramatizată a lui Alex Potocean pe Voxa, cu pauze artificiale și o imitație destul de penibilă a accentului rusesc].
Chiar și acum, după ce i-am ascultat memoriile, simt mai multă compasiune decât admirație. Impresia de mesianism nu mi-a fost ștearsă (era și greu, odată ce am descoperit zelul religios și optimismul foarte ciudat al prizonierului Navalnîi - poate simple mecanisme de supraviețuire ale unui om aflat într-o situație limită, poate trăsăturile unui zelot).
Desigur, dacă aș nota curajul și spiritul de sacrificiu pentru convingerile proprii, aș da 5*. Dar e greu să o fac după ce am citit relatările mult mai profunde și detaliate ale Annei Politkovskaia sau Svetlanei Aleksievici despre regimul Putin și Rusia post-sovietică. Din punct de vedere uman sigur că e emoționant, dar din punct de vedere informațional are destul de puțină substanță, ceea ce e ciudat venind de la un om aflat în miezul evenimentelor.
[Nu m-a ajutat nici lectura excesiv dramatizată a lui Alex Potocean pe Voxa, cu pauze artificiale și o imitație destul de penibilă a accentului rusesc].
January 19, 2025
3.5 stars for the book, 6 stars for the author. He is exactly what the title states, a PATRIOT.
I remember when Navalny was poisoned with Novichok by Putin. I also remember how, after he recovered in Germany, he flew right back to Moscow where he was immediately imprisoned, ultimately dying in a notorious prison in Siberia. Why, you may wonder, would EVER go back to Russia? This memoir hammers home the why.
This book is a mix-up of delivery styles, with the latter part of the book, Navalny’s diary entries, being the most interesting. I found it a bit of a tough go - it is repetitive (tons of false charges brought by Putin’s cronies, tons of general ineptitude, tons of Navalny explaining why he will not quit denouncing Putin). Got it. It does, however, give you a very good picture of what living in an autocracy is like and why freedom of expression must be upheld everywhere.
Ultimate respect to Navalny, his family and supporters in their fight against Putin and the corruption of Russia. For those interested in modern Russia and its issues, I also recommend “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia” by Peter Pomerantsev. It focuses on the political developments in Russia in the early 21st century and the culture of Russian media. It was published in 2014, so is a little dated but very chilling.
I remember when Navalny was poisoned with Novichok by Putin. I also remember how, after he recovered in Germany, he flew right back to Moscow where he was immediately imprisoned, ultimately dying in a notorious prison in Siberia. Why, you may wonder, would EVER go back to Russia? This memoir hammers home the why.
This book is a mix-up of delivery styles, with the latter part of the book, Navalny’s diary entries, being the most interesting. I found it a bit of a tough go - it is repetitive (tons of false charges brought by Putin’s cronies, tons of general ineptitude, tons of Navalny explaining why he will not quit denouncing Putin). Got it. It does, however, give you a very good picture of what living in an autocracy is like and why freedom of expression must be upheld everywhere.
Ultimate respect to Navalny, his family and supporters in their fight against Putin and the corruption of Russia. For those interested in modern Russia and its issues, I also recommend “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia” by Peter Pomerantsev. It focuses on the political developments in Russia in the early 21st century and the culture of Russian media. It was published in 2014, so is a little dated but very chilling.
April 12, 2025
This was a book club selection, otherwise I would likely not have chosen to read it at this time given the current political climate in our world.
I was scared it would be too graphic for me, but this man is truly a hero giving the rest of his life for what he believes in. His writings are inspiring, despite the prison time he withstood. He always took negatives and made positives out of it. As an example; one of his final prison locations, his exercise area was an outside cell 3 by 5, and exercise time was 6:30 a.m. in the depths of the extreme cold, there he was happy he had been given warm boots finally after asking for them for a long time.
I had three questions
1: Why did he go back to Russia, after being poisoned. Now as I have finished the book, I understand his patriotism.
2: Why did Putin et al not confiscate all these writings and letters given how much he was watched, video taped and checked on 24/7. Did I miss his explanation?
3. His final demise not explained, although not too many could have lasted as long as he did.
His strength and resilience was so admirable, truly a patriot for his country to the very end.
I was scared it would be too graphic for me, but this man is truly a hero giving the rest of his life for what he believes in. His writings are inspiring, despite the prison time he withstood. He always took negatives and made positives out of it. As an example; one of his final prison locations, his exercise area was an outside cell 3 by 5, and exercise time was 6:30 a.m. in the depths of the extreme cold, there he was happy he had been given warm boots finally after asking for them for a long time.
I had three questions
1: Why did he go back to Russia, after being poisoned. Now as I have finished the book, I understand his patriotism.
2: Why did Putin et al not confiscate all these writings and letters given how much he was watched, video taped and checked on 24/7. Did I miss his explanation?
3. His final demise not explained, although not too many could have lasted as long as he did.
His strength and resilience was so admirable, truly a patriot for his country to the very end.
November 13, 2024
Бутерброд
November 2, 2024
We all know where it leads going into it but it was still equal parts engaging, moving, funny at parts and, of course, incredibly sad. Not more to say as I can’t even feel hopeful that something could come from his death. However, one of the most interesting angles was about how he even became who he was. How that regular people can decide they want more for themselves and their country. A great read I’ll be thinking about for a while.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,047 reviews