OPINION | OTHERS SAY: The empire strikes back

Vladimir Putin put on a show of arbitrary power last weekend in the airport seizure of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who was the target of an assassination attempt last August by Putin’s security service. Navalny, returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany, was arrested upon arrival under an entirely bogus legal pretense. Putin makes himself look more desperate by the day.

Navalny was ordered held for 30 days. The whole show was a mockery of law, which provides in the case of a probation violation only for the prison service to appeal to courts for a different sentence, not an arrest. But in today’s Russia, Putin is the law. His Federal Security Service attempted to murder Mr. Navalny only five months ago. The airport arrest was just another day’s work for his thugs.

Navalny has managed to become a singular challenge to Putin. He made a series of brilliant video documentaries, posted on YouTube, exposing the mysterious wealth of Putin’s cronies. The videos have been seen by millions.

Navalny has now become the most potent opposition leader Putin has faced in two decades in power. “I am not afraid,” Navalny said at the airport. The despot is fighting back the only way he knows how, with a police state reception at the airport.

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