After Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok last year, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was thrust into the international limelight as she fought to have her husband flown to Germany for lifesaving treatment. Her poise and courage in the face of immense pressure has led to Navalnaya developing a following of her own. And with her husband now sentenced to spend almost three years in a penal colony for violating the terms of his probation for a trumped-up charge, the Russian and Western press alike have begun to speculate as to whether the first lady of the Russian opposition may take up her husband’s mantle and run in legislative elections later this year.
Here’s the problem: The whole idea may have started with a misinformation plant by Russia.
