Has Aleksei Navalny changed the rules of political engagement in Russia?
It was a campaign that upended the rules of political engagement and energized a generation in the Russian capital. And it was an electoral performance by the country's brightest rising political star that exceeded even the most wildly optimistic projections.
Aleksei Navalny surpassed all expectations with his strong second place finish -- and by coming within a handful of contested votes of forcing a runoff against pro-Kremlin incumbent Sergei Sobyanin.
But let's face it, there was no way the regime was going to let that happen.
And guess what. I don't think it matters. Sobyanin may have kept the keys to the mayor's office, but Navalny may have have taken home something much bigger -- the future.
In the latest Power Vertical podcast, we discuss the aftermath of the Moscow mayoral election.
Joining me in this belated post-game show is co-host and NYU professor Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russia's security services and author of the blog "In Moscow's Shadows," Sean Guillory of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies and author of "Sean's Russia Blog," and Kevin Rothrock, Project Editor for RuNet Echo at Global Voices, author of the blog “A Good Treaty.”
