It is truly sad to see the passing of Alexei Navalny in such unjust circumstances. As his detractors will point out, Navalny at times demonstrated some of the most odious traits of Russian nationalism — such as antisemitic behaviors; and he celebrated Russian conquests in Chechnya and Ukraine.

If you have Ukrainian friends, there is a good chance they did not see him as an entirely favorable alternative to Putin. Is not Putin's Russia Solzhenitsyn's? Russian imperialism did not go away with the USSR; it merely metamorphosed. I would not be surprised if future Russian culture looks a lot like what Navalny envisioned.

It is said that history does not repeat but it often rhymes. Let's learn from the past. Neither Navalny nor Solzhenitsyn would have suffered so if not for that trip across the empire to Siberia — the Gulag Archipelago. At a time when so many are swept up in the emotion of the affair, and no doubt a favorable comparison between Navalny and Putin as political alternatives, I think it is important to point out we should hope for better in Russia than more imperialism.

Michael Hotchkiss

Griswold