Alexey Navalny did not die for nothing

Ian Buruma is the author, most recently, of the forthcoming Spinoza: Freedom's Messiah. On Jan. 17, 2021, when Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny boarded a plane to Moscow from Berlin, where he had been treated after being poisoned in Russia with the nerve agent Novichok, he said he was pleased to be going home. But he knew the risks involved: a long prison sentence, torture, even death. Mr. Navalny, who died on Feb. 16 in an Arctic penal colony, faced a dilemma that all political dissidents must grapple with: live in exile and fade into obscurity, or confront an oppressive…