Russia's Navalny expects 'Stalinist' sentence of 18 more years in prison

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said he expected to receive a "Stalinist" sentence, extending his prison term by maybe 18 more years, when a court delivers its verdict on a battery of new charges against him on Friday.

Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin's fiercest domestic critic, is awaiting the verdict and sentencing at a penal colony east of Moscow where he is already serving 11-1/2 years on fraud and other charges that he says were trumped up to silence him.

State prosecutors last month asked for another 20 years on six separate charges, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation.

Navalny said the outcome could be slightly less, around 18 years, but it didn't really matter because he was also threatened with terrorism charges that could bring another decade.

"It's going to be a long sentence. What is called 'Stalinist'," said the 47-year-old, who is able to post on social media via his supporters and lawyers.

He said the purpose would be to stun and intimidate Russians, but urged them not to let that happen.

"When the sentence is announced, please think about only one, really important thing — what else can I personally do to resist? To stop the villains and thieves in the Kremlin from destroying my country and my future? What can I do, weighing all the risks and taking into account all the circumstances?" he said in his message to supporters.

Nerve agent poisoning

Navalny, who in the 2010s brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets, was detained in January 2021 after returning from Germany where he had been treated for what Western doctors said was poisoning by a Soviet-era nerve agent.

The Kremlin, which at one point accused him of working with the CIA to undermine Russia, said it had no involvement in what happened to him, and denies persecuting Navalny. It has portrayed him as an agent of disruption and says he never represented serious political competition.

In his statement, Navalny said that if even one in 10 of those Russians who opposed Putin were to take to the streets, then "the government would fall tomorrow" and the war in Ukraine would stop.

In practice Russians face huge risks in speaking out. According to rights group OVD-Info, nearly 20,000 have been detained for protesting against the war since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Navalny said people could help by donating to his movement, spreading the word on social media, painting graffiti or going to a rally - as long as they did at least something.

"There is no shame in choosing the safest way to resist. There is shame in doing nothing. It's shameful to let yourself be intimidated. Whatever sentence they have planned, it will not achieve its goal."

He said that if people's response to his sentencing was "I am not afraid", they would be making their own small contribution to the fight for freedom in Russia.