Russian opposition leader Alexsei Navalny – the main political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has exposed government corruption – recently was sentenced to more than two years in prison. Navalny survived being poisoned in August, which many believe was a state-ordered assassination attempt. Tens of thousands of people across Russia protested after Navalny was taken into custody in January and when he was sentenced to prison Feb. 2. Slavic languages and literatures professor Richard Tempest – an expert on Putin and charismatic politics – spoke about Navalny with News Bureau arts and humanities editor Jodi Heckel.
See the University News site for the interview.