only two days

Putin critic Alexei Navalny references Interstellar and The Wire in comments on Tuesday sentencing

Prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin Alexei Navalny, who on Tuesday was found guilty on fraud charges and reportedly sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security jail, referenced the film Interstellar in his response to the court's decison.

Navalny had previously been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for what he said were fabricated allegations of parole violation, which arrived after Navalny accused Putin of trying to poison him in 2020.

"Nine years of strict regime," Navalny wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. "It occured to me that my role in this saga is similar to that guy from Interstellar."

"If you remember, the main characters enter the station, after taking off from the planet where time flows several times faster. And they are greeted by a dude with a beard in a bathrobe who says: 'I have been waiting for you for 23 years, 4 months, and 8 days.'"

"Immediately," however, Navalny "dismissed this thought" — he does not have a beard, first of all, and secondly, "it's all nonsense. The numbers don't matter," he said. And the last thing he will do while in prison is "wait."

His Anti-Corruption Foundation will continue, the opposition leader said, and the fight will go on.

But "the best support for me and other political prisoners is not sympathy and kind words, but actions," he continued. "Don't be idle," because the government cannot overthrow itself.

Navalny's pop culture references didn't stop there, however — earlier, before sharing his 10-part thread, he commented on his sentence by quoting his favorite TV show, The Wire: "You only do two days. That's the day you go in and the day you come out."