<\/p>\n
A\u00a0full year after late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny\u2019s memoir Patriot was published in\u00a026 languages, a\u00a0debate has flared up\u00a0online over a\u00a0key difference between editions. The Russian version omits Navalny\u2019s social media posts from prison \u2014 including messages expressing his anti-war views \u2014 while the English edition includes them. Although the discrepancy has been known since publication, it\u00a0has only recently drawn widespread attention, sparking a\u00a0heated debate over how books are curated for different audiences and who gets to\u00a0shape Navalny\u2019s legacy. Here\u2019s what we\u00a0know.<\/p>\n
How the controversy began<\/p>\n
Andrey Volna, a\u00a0trauma surgeon who left Russia over his anti-war stance and now helps<\/a> war victims, noticed<\/a> that unlike the English-language edition, the Russian version of\u00a0Alexey Navalny\u2019s memoir Patriot contains none of\u00a0the late opposition leader\u2019s social media posts.<\/p>\n Patriot was released<\/a> in\u00a0October 2024\u00a0in 26 languages. The book combines Navalny\u2019s autobiography \u2014 which he\u00a0began writing after surviving a\u00a0poisoning<\/a> in\u00a02020 \u2014 with his prison diaries, kept after his return to\u00a0Russia and subsequent imprisonment. The entries end in\u00a0September 2022. Navalny\u2019s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has said he\u00a0was increasingly denied access to\u00a0pen and paper in\u00a0prison, and that some of\u00a0his writings may have been lost after his death<\/a> in\u00a0February 2024.<\/p>\n When the English edition of\u00a0Patriot came out, it\u00a0was no\u00a0secret that it\u00a0included not just the memoirs but also Navalny\u2019s social media posts from<\/a> prison. Writer and journalist Mikhail Zygar noted this difference in\u00a0his review<\/a> for Meduza: \u201cThe English edition, by\u00a0the way, also includes his Instagram posts. I\u00a0hope future Russian editions will add them too \u2014 that context is\u00a0important for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n Our only hope is\u00a0you.\u00a0Support Meduza<\/a>\u00a0before it\u2019s too late.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At\u00a0the time, few paid much attention to\u00a0the discrepancy. But months later, Andrey Volna revived the discussion, arguing<\/a> that the Russian edition should also include Navalny\u2019s social media posts \u2014 particularly as\u00a0they showed his position on\u00a0Russia\u2019s invasion of\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cWas it\u00a0really not possible to\u00a0include his clearly anti-war, and in\u00a0some ways pro-Ukrainian [posts written after the fall of\u00a02022]?\u201d Volna asked. \u201cEspecially his post<\/a> from February 20, 2023, with 15 points for ending the war \u2014 they sound even more radical than Ukraine\u2019s current demands. Yes, questions of\u00a0national identity were never Alexey\u2019s strong suit, and he\u00a0said plenty of\u00a0things he\u00a0shouldn\u2019t have. But his strength was that he\u00a0evolved, that he\u00a0tried to\u00a0correct his mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n Political analyst Sergey Medvedev agreed, noting<\/a> that Navalny\u2019s later posts \u201cmarked a\u00a0real evolution in\u00a0his thinking about Russia and the world,\u201d and that his 15 points for ending the war \u201cfully aligned with Ukraine\u2019s position, even going further in\u00a0some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Medvedev blamed the omission on\u00a0the Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), saying the group \u201cisn\u2019t preserving Navalny\u2019s legacy so\u00a0much as\u00a0manipulating it\u00a0for its own murky political ends.\u201d Cultural historian Alexander Etkind echoed<\/a> this: \u201cIt\u00a0doesn\u2019t change my\u00a0view of\u00a0Navalny,\u201d he\u00a0said, \u201cbut sadly, it\u00a0confirms my\u00a0worst fears about his heirs.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexey Navalny, 1976 \u2013 2024 Navalny\u2019s life in photos<\/a>Alexey Navalny, 1976 \u2013 2024 Navalny\u2019s life in photos<\/a>How Navalny\u2019s allies responded<\/p>\n The FBK rejected claims that the group had anything to\u00a0do\u00a0with what was included \u2014 or\u00a0omitted \u2014 from Patriot. The foundation said it\u00a0played no\u00a0role in\u00a0the book\u2019s publication and that editorial decisions were made by\u00a0separate teams working on\u00a0the Russian and English editions.<\/p>\n \u201cEditors of\u00a0the English edition decided to\u00a0add [posts] they thought were necessary for understanding the context,\u201d wrote<\/a> FBK chairwoman Maria Pevchikh. \u201cEditors of\u00a0the Russian edition decided not to\u00a0include them [\u2026] since the book consists of\u00a0prison diaries \u2014 not a\u00a0collection of\u00a0every text Navalny ever wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n Leonid Volkov, another longtime Navalny ally, responded<\/a> to\u00a0Sergey Medvedev\u2019s claim that Navalny had changed his views on\u00a0the war in\u00a0Ukraine. \u201cMedvedev implies that Navalny initially supported the war and then \u2018reconsidered,\u2019\u201d Volkov wrote. \u201cNavalny \u2014 who turned<\/a> his courtroom speech [from prison on\u00a0the first day of\u00a0the full-scale invasion] into a\u00a0fiery anti-war statement\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Volkov suggested that Medvedev and others sharing Andrey Volna\u2019s criticism were taking part in\u00a0what he\u00a0called \u201cyet another attack\u201d on\u00a0the Navalny family and the FBK, allegedly orchestrated by\u00a0exiled former oligarch\u2013turned\u2013opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky. \u201cApparently, [Medvedev] is\u00a0working for Khodorkovsky as\u00a0one of\u00a0his political strategists,\u201d Volkov wrote.<\/p>\n \u2018Nothing good will come of this\u2019 Three years into the full-scale war, Russia\u2019s exiled opposition is in crisis \u2014 leaving anti-war Russians feeling disillusioned and unrepresented<\/a>\u2018Nothing good will come of this\u2019 Three years into the full-scale war, Russia\u2019s exiled opposition is in crisis \u2014 leaving anti-war Russians feeling disillusioned and unrepresented<\/a>The Russian editor\u2019s response<\/p>\n Even before anyone from the FBK spoke out, Varvara Babitskaya \u2014 the editor of\u00a0the Russian-language edition of\u00a0Patriot \u2014 addressed<\/a> the controversy herself. She said the absence of\u00a0Navalny\u2019s social media posts was purely an\u00a0editorial decision.<\/p>\n \u201cA\u00a0personal diary is\u00a0one thing, and an\u00a0Instagram post is\u00a0another \u2014 they\u2019re different genres,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n English-language readers can\u2019t read the original Russian posts, so\u00a0they were included there. [\u2026] But that wasn\u2019t my\u00a0responsibility \u2014 I\u00a0worked on\u00a0the Russian text. The book consists of\u00a0previously unpublished material. Navalny\u2019s readers have already seen his posts, and they\u2019re still publicly available. [\u2026] Navalny thought his book through very carefully. It\u2019s not a\u00a0dumping ground for all his texts. We\u00a0tried to\u00a0stay true to\u00a0the author\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n Babitskaya added that she discussed<\/a> her editorial choices with Navalny\u2019s widow Yulia, and that they spent a\u00a0long time thinking<\/a> about what kind of\u00a0book Navalny himself would have wanted to\u00a0publish. \u201cWe\u00a0worked together on\u00a0the structure and other elements,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n I\u00a0can take all the blame \u2014 I\u00a0stand by\u00a0my\u00a0work. But there was nothing politically motivated about\u00a0it. It\u00a0didn\u2019t make a\u00a0difference to\u00a0me\u00a0what Navalny\u2019s posts were about; I\u00a0only thought about how they didn\u2019t fit with the deeply personal diaries of\u00a0a\u00a0dying man \u2014 and about the fact that those posts were already published and widely known. <\/p>\n \u2018Censorship turns reading into deciphering\u2019 Nine artists confront the blacked-out pages erasing war, Putin, and queer lives from Russia\u2019s books<\/a>\u2018Censorship turns reading into deciphering\u2019 Nine artists confront the blacked-out pages erasing war, Putin, and queer lives from Russia\u2019s books<\/a>What others are saying<\/p>\n Literary critic Anna Narinskaya<\/a> pointed out that it\u2019s common for different language editions of\u00a0the same book to\u00a0vary. Writer and feminist activist Daria Serenko<\/a> added that editors of\u00a0the English edition of\u00a0one of\u00a0her own books once asked her to\u00a0include \u201csome additional material \u2014 like Instagram posts or\u00a0diary entries from that period,\u201d explaining that \u201cour readers need more context.\u201d<\/p>\n Tikhon Dzyadko, editor-in-chief of\u00a0the independent television channel Dozhd (TV\u00a0Rain), said<\/a> he\u00a0didn\u2019t believe the omission of\u00a0Navalny\u2019s anti-war posts from the Russian edition was part of\u00a0\u201csome secret or\u00a0devious plan.\u201d \u201cNavalny\u2019s posts on\u00a0other topics weren\u2019t included either \u2014 nor, for example, were his interviews from prison,\u201d Dzyadko said. \u201cAfter all, why should they have been?\u201d<\/p>\n Not everyone agreed. Yevgenia Albats, editor-in-chief of\u00a0The New Times, called the decision to\u00a0exclude Navalny\u2019s posts \u2014 whatever the reason \u2014 a\u00a0mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m stunned that his posts weren\u2019t included in\u00a0the Russian edition,\u201d she wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who had the right to\u00a0decide for him what should appear in\u00a0his posthumous book and what shouldn\u2019t? Especially as\u00a0these weren\u2019t private reflections \u2014 they were his political stance, his political testament. How could anyone deny Russian readers \u2014 the very people he\u00a0gave his life for \u2014 the messages he\u00a0wrote to\u00a0them?<\/p>\n Yulia Navalnaya has not commented publicly on\u00a0the debate surrounding Patriot.<\/p>\n \u2018The main risk is that they\u2019ll kill us all\u2019 How Navalny\u2019s team worked while he was in prison \u2014 and what changed after his death<\/a>\u2018The main risk is that they\u2019ll kill us all\u2019 How Navalny\u2019s team worked while he was in prison \u2014 and what changed after his death<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0full year after late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny\u2019s memoir Patriot was published in\u00a026 languages, a\u00a0debate has flared…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":292519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,67,132,68,1796,1791,1794,1783,1776,1788,1778,1789,1795,1784,1772,1779,1773,1781,1782,1774,1777,1775,1793,1787,1780,1792,1790,1786,1785],"class_list":{"0":"post-292518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-1796","14":"tag-1791","15":"tag-1794","16":"tag-1783","17":"tag-1776","18":"tag-1788","19":"tag-1778","20":"tag-1789","21":"tag-1795","22":"tag-1784","23":"tag-1772","24":"tag-1779","25":"tag-1773","26":"tag-1781","27":"tag-1782","28":"tag-1774","29":"tag-1777","30":"tag-1775","31":"tag-1793","32":"tag-1787","33":"tag-1780","34":"tag-1792","35":"tag-1790","36":"tag-1786","37":"tag-1785"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115351113424901771","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}