Jailed Navalny compares ‘senile’ president to drunk grandfather

ALEXEI NAVALNY, the Kremlin’s arch critic, yesterday likened Vladimir Putin to a “drunk grandfather” who would be funny if he wasn’t in control of nuclear codes, after watching the Russian president’s address to the nation from jail.

The imprisoned opposition leader described Mr Putin as “senile” and urged the West to remove the ageing leader “and his kleptocrats” from power.

In a direct appeal to the people of Russia, Mr Navalny said: “The Kremlin is making you poorer, not Washington.”

He accused Mr Putin and his government of inducing “imperial hysteria” to distract the Russian people from the state of the economy.

He said Russia will lose money “for the sake of war, dirt, lies and the palace with golden eagles in Gelendzhik”.

In a 580-word Twitter thread, Mr Navalny said: “The head of the 21st century Politburo makes a truly insane speech.

“It’s just like my grandfather getting drunk at a family celebration and annoying everyone with his stories about how world politics actually works.”

He went on to say that the speech would have been humorous if Mr Putin wasn’t in charge of a country with nuclear weapons.

Mr Navalny, 45, who is currently serving a prison sentence in a colony outside Moscow, warned of the consequences of the president’s unchecked power.

“Replace Ukraine in his speech with Kazakhstan, Belarus, Baltic countries, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and so on, even including Finland,” he wrote. “And think about where the train of geopolitical thought of this senile grandfather may take him next.”