EXCERPT:
ALPEROVITCH: “Well, Navalny was one of the few people in Russia who had the potential to challenge Putin. Now, we shouldn’t overstate his popularity because it was in low single digits but, of course, in part because he was getting very negative press to the extent he was getting any press on Russian television. But he was one of the few who was willing to stay in Russia, come back, as Clarissa Ward said, at great risk to himself, and challenge Putin directly in Russia. Many of the other opposition figures have fled, to escape and try to save their lives, and there’s really no one left on the Russian opposition landscape that has his level of popularity, his level of name recognition that could have been a competitor to Putin.”