Pols Keep Granting Selves Powers Later Abused by Opponents

Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s most indefatigable opponent, wrote from prison to decry past moves that granted Russian leaders the powers Putin is now abusing.

“Both the democratic public inside the country and Western leaders at the time made the monstrous mistake of agreeing to the model — proposed by Boris Yeltsin’s team — of a presidential republic with enormous powers for the leader,” Navalny wrote.

“Giving plenty of power to a good guy seemed logical at the time,” he wrote.