A kangaroo court has sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison for just two years for allegedly violating his parole – while in a coma thanks to a poisoning plan in the Kremlin. Western leaders have rightly condemned the injustice – but it all seems to be talking.
After all, President Biden has only extended the Moscow Preferred Arms Restriction Treaty by five years, while Germany continues with a Nord Stream gas pipeline that will give Putin greater leverage over border states like Ukraine.
Put aside this ‘internal matter’, as Putin’s followers call it: with his wars (power of attorney and otherwise), his Olympics, his cyber attacks and interference in the elections of other countries and his seizure in the territory of other countries, the Russian strongman proved himself an enemy of civilized norms. It’s time to stop doing business with him, to start treating him like the pariah he should be.