It's a deliberately provocative title, I know, but how might the 'Navalny effect' impact late Putinism? A swing towards blunt and uncompromising authoritarianism? A genuine 'reform that you may preserve' conservative reformulation? The truth is likely to be something between the two, but it is worth considering that even if Navalny is not successful in bringing genuine democracy to Russia - we'll have to see - he may nonetheless improve ordinary Russians' lot.

In the second half, quite why did the Kremlin deliver such a kicking to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell?

The articles I mention are this from The Bell (in Russian), and this from BNE Intellinews.

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