Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny says he doesn’t feel lonely and is in a “great” mood despite serving a lengthy prison sentence in Siberia, but he still misses interacting directly with his family and friends.
In a New Year’s Eve message shared by Navalny’s team on social media, Navalny is quoted as saying that this will be the third time “I have taken the traditional family New Year’s Eve photo with Photoshop.”
“I am trying to keep up with the times, and this time I asked an artificial intelligence to draw me. I hope it turned out something fantastic - I will not see the picture myself until the letter with it arrives on Yamal,” he joked.
Navalny’s team has said he is currently serving his prison sentence in the IK-3 penal colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region of Russia.
Navalny is a populist, and when/if he is released, he wants to be able to say whatever is in demand. That includes playing nationalist if locals get more xenophobic.
The reason he got prominence as an opposition leader is in big part due to his programme being very agile to the current expectations, and my guess is that he doesn’t want to burn the bridges.
He will absolutely be a scumbag if that gives him power.