Amid Russia's new crackdowns, small signs of defiance emerge

NEW YORK (AP) — When Alexei Navalny was arrested in January 2021, tens of thousands of Russians filled the streets in protest, demanding that the top Kremlin critic be released and chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin. Thousands were arrested.

In the months since then, Navalny was given 2½ years in prison. His organization, close associates and other opposition activists were either prosecuted, fled the country or had their hands tied by draconian new laws or decrees. Independent news outlets were blocked and social media platforms banned.

Even a silent antiwar protester who held up a blank sign earlier this month in the city of Nizhny Novgorod was arrested.

Putin's crackdown — unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia — has blanketed the country. By the time Navalny's sentence was extended for another nine years by a court on Tuesday, not much dissent could be mustered. The Kremlin had worked hard to see to that.

And yet, there are still flickers of protest and defiance.

“Of course, nine years is a stiff sentence," said Navalny ally Ilya Yashin, who has vowed to remain in Russia. "Rapists, thieves and murderers in Russia often get less. ... But in reality (the sentence) doesn't mean anything, because everyone understands: Alexei will spend as much time behind bars as Putin will sit in the Kremlin.”

Addressing Putin, Yashin added sarcastically in his Facebook post, “You're quite the optimist.”

After a trial in a makeshift courtroom at the penal colony where he is being held, Navalny was convicted on fraud and contempt of court charges in a move that was seen as an attempt to keep Putin’s biggest foe behind bars for as long as possible.

The 45-year-old corruption fighter, who in 2020 survived a poisoning with a nerve agent that he blames on the Kremlin, said on...