Alexei Navalny

Founding father of the future Russia

- MIKHAIL ZYGAR

ON JAN. 1, 2015, ALEXEI Navalny called me. "Well, you and us have no one else left but you and us. Let's work together," he said.

It was indeed a hard time for both him and me. I was editor-in-chief of the Dozhd TV channel at the time, and we were cut off from all cable and satellite operators. But Navalny, who died at 47 on Feb. 16 in a Siberian prison, faced much worse: the criminal case invented to force him to stop his political activities. That time, Alexei was given a suspended sentence, but his brother was imprisoned.