Locals from the nearby town of Pokrov spectating the archeological dig of the Tovsta Mohyla Kurgan, 1971

Soon, the archeologists would discover a burial of two high-ranking Scythian nobles - a man and a woman from the IVth BC - complete with buried servants, horses, and treasure.

The most famous find from Tovsta Mohyla (Fat Grave in Ukrainian) is the Golden Pectoral.

Utterly appalling news. 

What pains me even more is how slow the international community continues to be, not even sanctioning a single person on Navalny’s list. I have seen plenty of Tweets describing sadness, and I believe those people. It would be hypocritical for me to attack messages of anger and sadness on social media. 

However, those who have the power to freeze Putin’s assets-- yet do nothing more than call for accountability and a full investigation from the same government that poisons people and lies about it-- deserve condemnation. 

You cannot tell me that governments capable of shutting down an entire country through curfews and lockdowns cannot likewise shut down the foreign bank accounts of Putin’s henchmen. Yet they have not done so, despite Navalny publishing a full list of names, including Alisher Usmanov and Roman Abramovich, several months ago. 

Navalny’s condition is now so grave that he could suffer a fatal heart attack at any minute. Apparently, a spike in potassium levels indicates serious kidney damage. This reminds me of Russian composer Pavel Chesnokov, who died of a heart attack caused by malnutrition. Navalny has been on a hunger strike for several weeks. Prior to that, he survived a Novichok poisoning.  

Navalny press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, said bluntly on Twitter that Navalny was dying. Daria Navalnaya, Alexei’s daughter, wrote on Twitter in English, “Allow a doctor to see my dad.” When we talk about Alexei Navalny, let us not forget that he has a wife of 20 years, Yulia Navalnaya, as well as a daughter (Daria “Dasha” Navalnaya), and a son (Zahar Navalny). 

The cruelty to Navalny’s wife and children is unimaginable and unacceptable. Remember that this comes from the same Putin who pretends to support family values when he needs votes from Russians. 

Analysts predicted this, but that didn’t make reading this headline any less painful.  

The Russian government’s state watchdog, isolated, desperate, and pathetic, has now designated Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation as “extremist”. In the coming days, analysts expect that Moscow prosecutors will succeed in obtaining a legal ruling against FBK, a clearly premeditated act. 

Navalny’s teams, fearing the consequences, have vacated entire headquarters and closed down their social media accounts. Already, several allies have fled the country to avoid the kind of legal retribution associated with “extremism”: arrest, raids, and lengthy jail terms. 

Once again, we see that brave and honest people striving to make Russia a better place get treated as criminals. Meanwhile, the real extremists in the Kremlin-- people who order stalking, abuse, torture, and murder-- havae yet to face any punishment for their crimes. The insanity of this leaves me speechless. 

Since President Putin has terrorised yet another set of political opponents, surely it is now time for the international community to starve this man of any political relevance or respect whatsoever? Disinvite him from all international summits, refuse diplomatic relations, and sanction his enablers under the Magnitsky Act. 

According to the Kremlin, telling Putin that he cannot rob, rape, and pillage Russia is ‘extremist and terrorist ideology’. 

The West must place maximum pressure on Putin. A wave of devastating Magnitsky Sanctions against Putin’s money laundering operations in Europe would send a clear message in support of Navalny, democracy, and the rule of law. 

This video from March, posted to Alexei Navalny’s official YouTube channel, exposes the prison where he has been held for 194 days. It contains shocking information about physical and psychological torture applied to prisoners on a daily basis: scheduled beatings, enforced silence, mockery, interrupted sleep, denial of medical are, and bans on visits with relatives. 

I knew that the Russian prison system abused human rights, but I did not know how deeply such lawless, sadistic abuse was entrenched in the system. Cases like that of Sergei Magnitsky, locked in a chamber and beaten to death for over an hour, seemed consigned to the Matrosskaya Tishina prison. Now I discover that this Pokrov prison uses such tactics as a matter of principle. When dealing with a political prisoner, like Alexei Navalny, the conditions get worse. 

One cannot have much difficulty in concluding that other Russian prisons behave the same way. 

With this information, it becomes inexplicable and inexcusable that European nations still have not sanctioned all the suggested enablers on Alexei Navalny’s list. For what are we waiting? As of July 2021, Alexei Navalny has almost been killed twice within the last twelve months: first, when the FSB poisoned him with Novichok on Putin’s order; secondly, when after being denied medical care for spinal hernias and loss of sensation in his limbs, he went on a hunger strike. 

Putin has banned FBK (Fund Against Corruption), has forced key Navalny allies to shut down their operations and even flee (Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov), and has recently threatened the NavalnyLive and Lyubov Sobol YouTube channels via Roskomnadzor. Other outlets have faced the same persecution: Meduza was recently declared a foreign agent, and had to crowdfund in order to stay online. 

The time for Magnitsky Sanctions against enablers of this abuse is now. Recent investigations on Navalny’s YouTube channels demonstrate that Putin has no expiry date for his stealing, electoral fraud, or violence. We cannot sit by in the free and prosperous West and allow Putin to continue trampling on the human rights of Russians until 2036. 

FREE NAVALNY.