The death of Alexei Navalny in a West Siberian prison on Feb. 16 reminds the world of the brutality of the Putin regime. Navalny was a political prisoner whose greatest crimes were speaking out against President Vladimir Putin and the murder and corruption within the Russian government. In 2020, Navalny nearly lost his life after being poisoned. Despite everything stacked against him, he used his platform to fight for change in Russia.

Navalny and Putin are individuals for whom there are no counterparts in present-day America. That doesn’t mean extreme actors on both sides of the aisle won’t try to make comparisons.