Photo/Illutration Police detain a man as he sought to lay flowers to pay his last respects to Alexei Navalny at a monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Feb. 17. (AP Photo)

It is said there are two distinct “truths” in the cosmos of the Russian language.

One is expressed by the word “pravda,” widely known from the Communist Party newspaper during the Soviet era, and the other is “istina,” which can also be translated as “truth” or “verity.”

The former refers to the truth of the human world, while the latter signifies the truth of the divine realm, according to a linguistic pundit.

Hearing this, I couldn’t help but feel it was very characteristic of Russia.

Where does the truth lie?

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in a jail where he was detained. The local prison service said he “felt unwell” and “lost consciousness” after a walk.

This is the latest in a series of mysterious deaths of people who dared to openly criticize the Russian regime.

In a previous poisoning attempt against Navalny, Russian authorities were strongly suspected of being involved.

Western leaders have pointed their accusing fingers at President Vladimir Putin.

“Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” U.S. President Joe Biden said.

Navalny had returned to his homeland fully aware of the dangers, only to be arrested. He obviously thought that staying abroad would mean losing his influence over the people living under an autocratic regime that exercises powerful censorship.

The history of this country has seen some courageous dissidents, including the physicist Andrei Sakharov, who, despite persecution, continued to speak out in their homeland.

“If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong,” Navalny had said.

Putin has been in power for 24 years but has never once publicly mentioned his name.

Conversely, it could mean that Navalny was an intensely disquieting presence to the Russian leader.

News footage about his death from Russia shows many citizens being detained by police while holding bouquets of flowers amid heavy snowfall.

Let us ruminate on these words of the former lawyer who died at age 47: “And surely the day will come when speaking the truth … will become something commonplace and not at all dangerous in Russia.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 18

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