Alexei Navalny: Putin's Enemy Explained - John Sweeney - #273

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Oh yes, hello wonderful people. Welcome back to the show. My guest today is John Sweeney, investigative journalist and a writer. If you've been watching the news this week, you will have seen that the leader of the Russian opposition, Aleksei Navalny, was arrested as he got back into Russia, having been in Germany recovering from nerve agent poisoning after an assassination attempt. There is a fascinating and incredibly dangerous poker game going on in Russia at the moment, the establishment versus the newcomer, and John Sweeney is an expert on the situation. So I got him on to explain exactly what's happening. So today, expect to learn why Navalny is galvanizing such support, how he survived poisoning with Novichok, how he convinced one of his own assassins to admit to trying to kill him, and why he once nearly became a pirate. This is just, I couldn't believe how ignorant I was to so much that's been going on in Russia. It's going to be terrifying and fascinating to watch what happens over the next few years, but yeah, this episode tells you everything you need to know. I really hope that you enjoy it. In other news, this episode is brought to you by fitbook.co.uk. Get yourself some new clients if you're a fitness professional by going to fitbook.co.uk/modernwisdom, and you can get a 50% discount on your FitBook membership. This is a super easy way to build up your client base by having FitBook deliver your profile to thousands and thousands of clients looking for a fitness professional just like you every single week. And with the Modern Wisdom discount code, it works out at 38 pence a day, which is far cheaper than any other type of marketing that you could do. So why are you not on FitBook? Reviews from existing fit pros on the platform say that their business wouldn't have survived in 2020 without FitBook and Corporate LiveWire's Health and Fitness Business of the Year Award was given to fitbook.co.uk. So if you are a fitness professional, head to fitbook.co.uk/modernwisdom and use the code modern wisdom for 50% off your membership, which is 38 pence a day to be constantly advertising to potential new clients. And if you are a client who's looking for a fit pro in your area, Massus, PT, chiropractor, whatever it might be, just go to fitbook.co.uk and you can browse all the vetted and checked fitness professionals for free, fitbook.co.uk/modernwisdom. But for now, it's time to learn about Russia with John Sweeney.
John Sweeney, welcome to the show.

**John Sweeney** (2:46)
Pleasure, Chris. It's great to have an atta.

**Chris Williamson** (2:52)
I feel like today is going to be. Aleksei Navalny is a guy who's been poisoned, imprisoned multiple times, had acid and green paint thrown on him, called Vladimir Putin a poison toad, and flown drones over his mansion on YouTube, and somehow not died. This read sounds like a spy novel.

**John Sweeney** (3:12)
It's actually, I'm thinking of a poem by LeMontov, A Hero of Our Time. Actually, it's a novel. Whenever I get into this, I want to drink vodka, and annoyingly, I'm on gin. But he is a hero of our time, Aleksei Navalny. I've met him twice. The first time I properly engaged with him is in 2016 This guy is challenging the Kremlin in a way which is extraordinarily brave, Chris.
People who say, what's he doing? He's been poisoned. Why on earth is he going back to Russia? People who say that haven't been paying attention. In very simple terms, I've been going to Russia since 92 I did Russian O level at school. I scraped through it. I don't speak Russian, but I love it. I love the culture. When I used to work for the BBC, I would go there every two years, do something that would annoy the Kremlin. They would follow us around and then I'd leave. The last time I did a film called Taking on Putin, and I met Navalny for that twice, and he really is a hero.
But here's the background, is that I met three Russians who were all critical of Putin. At a time when the West was still trying to rub along with Putin, one of them was Anna Politkovskaya, the second Natasha Estimorova. They were both great journalists. And the third was Boris Nemtsov. He was a journalist and a politician. Shot, shot, shot. So these three people who had the balls to stand up to Putin and to be critical of them were all shot dead. And Navalny knows this. He knows the history. And basically he's been challenging Putin's, you know, the poison toads lock on power, lock on the Kremlin for the past decade. And he knows that if you do that, you may well die.