"Russia is dead". It's been a year since Alexey Navalny died. Russians don't bite their tongues. “Moscow will follow Stalin’s path”

After his funeral I listened to music from “Terminator 2” for a long time, where he was buried. “Beautiful Russia of the future” will come, that's for sure. However, the way to it will be highly hard and even cruel. As before, so now I find support in Alexey.

Olga, Moscow

It was a dipping of hope that I now live in. Or I live due to the fact that I'm over 60. I do not believe in “the beautiful Russia of the future”. I'm just glad I don't have grandchildren.

“The only hope is that the device will eat itself, chew and rot”

Alexey, Norway

As shortly as Navalny was detained at the Russian border, I realized he would not be released alive. So I was prepared to die. It was a failure of backrest.

I hope people will be heroes a small little than Navalny. There should be more smaller heroes, but I don't believe it anymore. Now, the heroic feat is even considered to be the publication of a Facebook post about the "insubordinate" content. Over the next 2 decades, there will be no "beautiful Russia of the future". The only hope is that the device will eat itself, chew and rot.

Sergei, Sydney

I couldn't handle the loss. I protested with everyone in early 2010, and then emigrated — erstwhile it became clear that the protest had expired. But hope continued, subconsciously, as long as Alexey was alive, I believed that better times would come. The shock of his death has inactive not passed, for the shock of hope dying — that 1 day I will return to the country and live well there. For a year now, everything in my country has been in immeasurable darkness.

DAVID GANNON / AFP

Flowers alongside photos of the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny at a makeshift monument in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin, 19 March 2024.

Of course, "a beautiful Russia of the future will come". But it will most likely take a very, very long time. besides many good people have been displaced, the country has besides much been turned back into the clutches of totalitarianism. However, the generation will change, and again in Russia there will be many people thirsting for freedom and civilized life. Unfortunately, I find support only in that I live in another country.

Georgia, Thailand

It's hard. There's no hope. People like Navalny and Germany They're practically gone. It was hard to deal with their deaths. I live outside the Russian Federation. I'm just trying to hold on to my strength. Russia's dead. What they do doesn't inspire any respect. Unfortunately, I have no religion and no hope for a bright future.

Alexander, Prague

A fewer months ago, I realized that the possible of Navalny's execution was very real, so you should be morally prepared for it. I was ready, and even erstwhile Navalny was alive, I thought about how to last without him. It doesn't substance if I dealt with his departure, it's crucial that it's an unrepeated failure for the Russians. specified people come to the nation at most erstwhile all 100 years. We lost that chance. But we must live somehow. If individual is depressed about Navalny's death, I can say that he surely wouldn't approve. As a Christian, he would most likely add that depression is simply a mortal sin.

But it's not about faith, it's about us. There was a war due to the fact that we didn't do adequate to prevent it. “Beautiful Russia of the future” will come erstwhile we do everything we can to make it happen. If nothing is done, nothing good will happen. If you take action, there is at least a minimum chance — and this is better than nothing.

Anna, Moscow

Did I deal with the loss? Nope. I remember precisely the day I learned about his death. I remember walking past his memorial board and there were less people and less flowers under it all day. I thought that his memory of him would shortly fade, along with all the good he had done.

I feel annoyed erstwhile I look at today's "Russian opposition". any usage Navalny's political capital and have a large time in Europe while others are stuck in forgotten Russian prison. There is simply a gap between each of us due to besides different experiences in fresh years.

We had a beautiful Russia of the present, erstwhile we came out of the ages, a sense of unity gave us hope. For that, I am grateful to Alexey Navalny.

Dmitri, Paris

The day he died, I was very sad. My full household was crying. I've been mentioning him for a very long time, now I'm reading his book. There will be no “a beautiful Russia of the future”. Navalny shouldn't have come to Russia! We needed him alive, what good was he erstwhile he was in prison? Dead Navalny is useless! That's a terrible mistake. Who and what did he want to prove?! He's a hero to me, but to putinists, he'll always be a spy.

There is no future for Russia. I'd like to believe that my household will halt being repressed, that my friends will come home. More likely, however, that Russia will follow Stalin's path And Khrushchev.

Viktor, Uljanovsk

It's hard. Thanks to Nawalny, I understood what it meant to have a political typical — he said out loud everything that hurt inside me, in a way that was both typical of him and close to me. He made me feel that it wasn't so bad that change is possible. And I saw that there were quite a few akin people in the country. All of this gave me hope for a wonderful future among people who love their country.

When Navalny was poisoned and survived, his character gained any kind of sacred meaning for me, I thought he was sent somewhere “from above” and will surely lead our country to a average state. After he returned to the country and was arrested, things got worse. After the outbreak of war, 10 times worse. After Navalny died, a light went out in the tunnel.

There is no 1 in Russian politics who would effort so unselfishly to make changes close to my heart. My only political representative, my only hope of political change, died. It hurts. It hasn't been easier in a year. “Beautiful Russia of the Future” without Nawalny is impossible. At least for now, I don't see a politician who shares his values and is willing to fight for them in the same way. I find support in the memories of Russia we lost.

Dmitri, Russia

I didn't feel that loss. I cut myself off from him and his entourage over 10 years ago. The alleged navalists have completely compromised themselves. They have no heritage. I always look for support in myself, my family, my friends, but not in outsiders.

Lubov, Moscow

What happened before his death can no longer be restored. With bitterness, I remember a time erstwhile the change seemed close. Now is simply a time of silence, everyone is hiding, and any things even fear to think, let alone talk. It was a tough year and most likely led to full escapism and the desire to take care of only themselves and the loved ones. At least let them be fine.

RALF HIRSCHBER / AFP

Julia Nawalna during a demonstration of supporters of the Russian opposition in exile in Berlin, 17 November 2024.

Navalny's legacy has been forfeited. Scandals with Volkov, who precede Alexey's assassination, undermine any assurance in his team. There is no 1 like Alexey in politics today, although many had advanced hopes for him. I'm learning to believe I'm liable for my life. Whether Navalny or not, I can be happy.

Fedor, Valencia

Unfortunately, I stopped believing what Navalny's squad was doing while he was inactive alive, so for me it was not so much the failure of Alexey as a politician I believe in, but as 1 of the bravest and bravest fighters against the regime. There's no more like him, and there's most likely not.

I think the legacy we're talking about died with Alexey. I was very impressed with his openness and uprightness, which he radiated erstwhile he was free. It is simply a pity that I cannot attribute any of these qualities to those who now talk on his behalf.

I besides no longer believe in "the beautiful Russia of the future". It seems to me that the most crucial thing to happen in Russian society after the war is to unconditionally admit mistakes and accept work for what has been done on behalf of our nation, with his silent yet silent consent. It's hard for me to imagine this happening erstwhile I get back from the front with hundreds of thousands of murderers.

I think Russia will proceed to follow the way of isolation from modern values specified as human life, technology and global cooperation. It will proceed to spend crazy amounts of money playing businesses that are not needed in the modern world, which will make it fall behind and become poorer. And so on until the next war.

Arina, Almaty

Alexey Navalne's death unexpectedly helped me cope with the failure of myself in exile. I had previously lived with deferred life syndrome — knowingly not increasing roots in emigration, not making friends, not getting attached to work. I thought my life was suspended. I was hoping that Navalny would be released, that there would be a “beautiful Russia of the future” and then I would come back and live in it.

After the death of Navalny, all my hopes died, I lost my ground under my feet, what I had lived before — waiting for the future — died with him. I was apathetic and I didn't know how to live. In time, through therapy, I came to an unexpected conclusion — yes, I lost religion in “beautiful Russia of the future”, but with it I abandoned my life’s syndrome. Finally, I allowed myself to live here and now — to make plans, to find people close to me, to invest in work, and to consciously live all day. This failure was difficult, but she gave me life.

Now I find support in my loved ones and in myself. I make my own future, though in my small world. I no longer believe in the “beautiful Russia of the future”, or at least not 1 where there will be area for me. Alexey left a surviving way in the past of Russia and the world. I think his legacy will affect others, I'm just not certain the Russians will.

Olga, Petersburg

I couldn't handle the loss, I don't think that's possible. Navalny gave a small hope that Russia would truly become what he described it to be. erstwhile he left, that hope died, and I'm not certain he'll always be reborn. Looking at what's happening around me, I don't think so.

In the summertime of 2024 I went to Moscow, visited the grave, laid flowers, cried. I think I'll do the same this year.

Corruption Foundation It's not the same without Navalny. Yes, they're investigating, they're fighting, but I can't feel the spark and hope that Navalny virtually radiated. It wasn't perfect, but he truly wanted what was best for Russia, he saw it in a completely different light.

With each passing day, with all loss, with all fresh and absurd law, with all “learning about what is important” in schools, with all banner that encourages people to enter into contracts with the Ministry of Defence and the fresh grave of any lost in battles, this “beautiful Russia of the future” disappears. Even Russia's average future sounds utopian now.

Vasily, Zaporozhye

I didn't announcement any difference. There's no legacy. Everything he did doesn't make sense right now. The most depressing thing is that even after starting a full-scale invasion he was incapable to admit his mistake and apologize for the Crimea, let alone his more cynical statements. He besides bears any of the blame for starting a war, as did all Russian citizens. Now I see that Kara-Murza and Yashin They sit on 2 chairs, afraid of losing what they do not have — electoral support.

Natalia, Moscow

A year passed normally, emotionally it was a swing. I remember this terrible event very often. For the first month, I cried in a pillow at night. I got depressed. It's like a light's gone at the end of the tunnel. To this day the thought of him leaving hurts and makes me cry. I can't accept it, and I can't believe it. His legacy won't die. It is. Julia and his coworkers. erstwhile she said she'd keep fighting, it was a small easier, a small bit more hope. There must be “a beautiful Russia of the future”, we must build it. Otherwise, why live?