Political Quotes

“Madam President, when Alexei Navalny died 2 weeks ago, he had been in solitary confinement for almost 300 days. Outside his window, the Russian dissident and anti-corruption campaigner could only see a tall fence and no light. Far above the Arctic Circle, the prison was built on the site of a Soviet gulag, a place the Kremlin has sent generations of Russian citizens to break their spirit. But despite the subzero temperatures, despite the months of darkness, despite the violence, Alexei Navalny never gave up. He never lost his sense of humor. He never wavered in his commitment to fight for a better Russia. And what really bothered the Kremlin: He never gave up on telling the truth about Putin. After all, he is the one who aptly described Putin's United Russia party as ``the party of crooks and thieves.'' He saw that Putin is still the KGB agent who never turned away from the Soviet legacy that crushed rebellion in Hungary in 1956, that suppressed reforms in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and that declared martial law in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to crush Solidarity in Poland in 1981. There was a chance for Russia to take a different path in the 1990s. Many Russians leapt at the opportunity after the collapse of the USSR. There were independent political parties. There were open elections. There was a free press. Civil society emerged. Russians connected with counterparts in Europe and around the world.…”