A Russian court on Wednesday labeled groups linked to jailed opposition leader Alexey Navanly's anti-Kremlin movement "extremist," outlawing his allies from running in the country's upcoming elections and leaving his supporters vulnerable to prosecution and possible prison time.
There's not much doubt the move had Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval, and its not particularly surprising that the government is clamping down on what's widely considered it's biggest, if not only, political threat. But the timing of the ruling likely isn't a coincidence, Reuters and The New York Times report. Putin is due to meet face-to-face with President Biden in Switzerland next week, and Reuters' Russia Bureau Chief Andrew Osborn surmises the ban is also a brazen message to the U.S. ahead of the rendezvous — likely something along the lines of "butt out of our politics," he writes. Per the Times, it signals to Biden that "Russian domestic affairs are not up for discussion."
Washington has called on Moscow to free Navalny, but it's unclear if Biden will bring it up during the conversation, or if he'll mostly focus on foreign policy. So far, though, he's hinted that he's not planning on holding much back, saying Wednesday he's going to let Putin "know what I want him to know." Read more at Reuters and The New York Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for November 9Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a ripoff, and the land of opportunity
-
A ‘golden age’ of nuclear powerThe Explainer The government is promising to ‘fire up nuclear power’. Why, and how?
-
Massacre in Darfur: the world looked the other wayTalking Point Atrocities in El Fasher follow decades of repression of Sudan’s black African population
-
Celine Dion 'civil war' in New ZealandTall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
-
Woman lives with needle in brain for 80 yearsTall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
