'Greetings from Putin's henchmen': Alexei Navalny aide attacked with hammer and tear gas
USA TodayMAR 2024
Navalny Ally Leonid Volkov Attacked in Lithuania
Image copyright: Oleg Nikishin/Contributor/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Anti-Russia narrative
That Volkov was attacked as Russia prepares for a rigged presidential election that will certainly grant Putin a renewed term in office is no surprise, particularly given that the Kremlin spares no efforts to crack down on the opposition. While this operation in Lithuania was designed to serve as a warning to dissidents at home, it further reasserts that Russia is at war with the West.
Pro-Russia narrative
It's no coincidence that the West insists on pointing fingers at the Kremlin — and Putin personally — over anything that happens to people in the opposition camp, as its propaganda machine is now at full tilt to try to divert focus from defeats in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza. If Western countries did live up to what they preached, Julian Assange, for example, wouldn't be subject to torture for exposing the US' ruthless killings.