Eighteen years ago, as my husband lay sunken and jaundiced in a hospital bed, I was encouraged to be strong.
That gave me comfort.
There is comfort in hope.
My strong Sacha, known to the world as Alexander Litvinenko, Vladimir Putin’s unbreakable thorn, will live, I assured myself.
This couldn’t be the end, I thought.
But of course, no one could survive ingesting the high dose of radioactive polonium that a Kremlin assassination squad slipped into Sacha’s tea.
And as my 12-year-old son and I watched helplessly as his life faded away, there were no words that could ease our pain.
Our family had already been destroyed. Living in London, we were isolated from our loved ones in Russia. My son would never see his grandparents.
Now, our lives were really shattered. My son was never able to hug his father again. He would never kiss my husband again.
Sympathy couldn’t do much.
That is why I hesitate to offer any weak message of support to Yulia Navalnaya and the two children of pro-democracy dissident Alexei Navalny; except this one: say his name. Save his memory. And his death will not be in vain.
But only time will tell when the Russians will be free of Putin.
My strong Sacha, known to the world as Alexander Litvinenko, Vladimir Putin’s unbreakable thorn, will live, I assured myself. (Above) Alexander Litvinenko in the Intensive Care Unit at University College Hospital on November 20, 2006 in London
As my 12-year-old son and I watched helplessly as his life faded away, there were no words that could ease our pain. (Above) Marina Litvinenko, the wife of Alexander Litvinenko
My husband, a Kremlin agent turned fierce critic of the regime, and Alexei, a lawyer turned anti-corruption advocate and political prisoner, died under different circumstances, but their lives ran in parallel.
Both were poisoned by Putin’s thugs; Sacha in a London hotel bar and Alexei by a military-grade nerve agent.
They both fought until the end; Sacha endured for weeks in a hospital bed and Alexei survived for four years, spending his final days in a high-security penal colony in Siberia.
They both die as heroes for exposing the madman of Russia.
Alexei was subjected to more than 300 days of solitary confinement, which Putin reportedly continued with sadistic pleasure, demanding to read reports and even watch live footage of his thugs torturing and humiliating his prisoner.
If true, this is even more proof that Russia is ruled by a monster: a sick psychopath who controls a nuclear arsenal. For what kind of person does human suffering consume you and feel stronger for it?
It is distressing to watch the useful idiots of the world continue to embolden this murderous tyrant while men, like Alexei and Sacha, sacrifice their lives to hold him accountable.
On Friday, Tucker Carlson, a prominent journalist who speaks to large audiences, lamented Alexei’s death as “barbaric and horrible” and something that “no decent person would defend.”
But those strong condemnations were nowhere to be found in his interview with Putin last week, when Carlson allowed Ukraine’s invader to make up lies about the war he alone had started.
“This regime and Vladimir Putin must take personal responsibility for all the terrible things they have been doing to my country, to our country, Russia,” Yulia Navalnaya (above) said on Friday.
I hesitate to offer any weak message of support to Yulia Navalnaya and the two children of pro-democracy dissident Alexei Navalny; except this one: say his name. Save his memory. And his death will not be in vain. (Above) Alexei Navalny, with his wife Yulia, right, his daughter Daria and his son Zakhar on September 8, 2019
Alexei survived for four years and spent his final days in a high-security penal colony in Siberia.
And where was Carlson’s newfound moral clarity when he posted videos this week from inside a Moscow subway and a grocery store glorifying Putin’s Russia and comparing it unfavorably to the United States?
I could hardly believe it as Carlson bought eggs, bread and wine and commented that a basket full of groceries only cost $100 in Moscow.
“We just put in the cart what we would actually eat for a week,” Carlson said. ‘We all (estimate) around $400 dollars. Here it cost 104 US dollars.’
That is only a small portion of the reality.
No average Russian family spends $100 a day. Only a wealthy American could enjoy such a luxury.
If Carlson really wanted to tell the story of the Russian people, he would travel outside of Moscow to see those living without gas, electricity, or plumbing.
If Carlson really wanted to tell the truth, he would have acknowledged that almost no one in my country has savings, while many more are deeply in debt.
And, of course, if Carlson were truly horrified by the murder of political dissidents, he would have recognized that no Russian citizen – regardless of their wealth – is free.
There was no strong condemnation to be found in his interview with Putin last week, when Carlson allowed the Ukrainian invader to make up lies about the war he alone had started.
Where was Carlson’s newfound moral clarity when he posted videos this week from inside a Moscow subway and a grocery store (above) glorifying Putin’s Russia and comparing it unfavorably to the United States?
Is a food basket more important than fundamental human rights?
What a humiliation for my people.
Like American journalist Walter Duranty, who won a Pulitzer Prize in the 1930s for his reporting on Joseph Stalin’s government, Carlson overlooks the obvious.
Duranty praised Stalin for ushering in the so-called Soviet Golden Age, but ignored the millions of people who died, starved, were forced into cannibalism, and held in prison settlements.
In a surprising confession last week, Carlson was asked to justify his failure to bring up Alexei’s plight during his humiliating interview with Putin and he explained that state-sponsored murder was simply the cost of “leadership.” .
No, Carlson.
It is not.
Putin’s perspective should never be legitimized.
Their authoritarian kleptocracy should never be celebrated.
If Carlson were truly horrified by the murder of political dissidents, he would have recognized that no Russian citizen – regardless of wealth – is free. (Above) Police detain a man during a protest against the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia, on January 31, 2021.
In a surprising confession last week, Carlson was asked to justify his failure to bring up Alexei’s plight during his humiliating interview with Putin and he explained that state-sponsored murder was simply the cost of “leadership.” .
Today, even as Russia is weakened by Putin’s failed war in Ukraine, the regime’s repression is worse than ever.
Once the families of political activists were safe from reprisals. No more. Today, even the relatives of those who refuse to be recruited into the Ukrainian meat grinder have to pay.
The only consolation that Yulia Navalnaya, I, or millions of Russians can draw from Alexei’s death is that it may strengthen the West’s resolve to fight on.
It will not be enough for the United States to express its sympathy and move on. This is the moment.
A Ukrainian victory would deal a deafening blow to a regime whose lifeblood is violence and intimidation.
“This regime and Vladimir Putin must take personal responsibility for all the terrible things they have been doing to my country, to our country, Russia,” Yulia Navalnaya said Friday.
I pray you are right.
Alexei is dead and Putin remains.
But hope is a comfort.