time navalny said it, quote, hurt like hell. he thinks the second go-around they mixed the thing with some kind of caustic chemical. and as you can see in this picture, the green stuff got in his eyeball. he started losing sight in that eye and needed surgery to save his eye from a specialist in spain. since he picked up that mantle, as russia's most visible, most vocal, most effective opposition leader, alek knee navalny has been threatened, he's been arrested. he'll been jailed. he's been dyed green twice, he's been almost blinded and of course he was ultimately poisoned. alexei navalny was poisoned with a russian-made nerve agent novichok last year. it almost killed him. put him in a coma, it almost killed him. he recovered in germany and against the advice of everybody who loves him, he said he would return to russia. he did. he returned to russia this year and was immediately arrested and then almost just as immediately convicted on phony charges and sentenced to two and a half years in a russian penal colony. this year rus

and navalny meant it. he became the biggest, loudest, most charismatic, pushiest opposition leader in russia. he vowed to run for president himself to unseat putin. navalny built up an irreverent, creative, forward thinking, nimble opposition movement that kept coming up with new, unexpected ways to expose corruption in the putin government, keep poking his finger right in putin's eye. navalny and his group flew cameras over properties of russian officials who had salaries to acquire he's wineries and yachts and tracked mistresses and secret second families of high-ranking officials, linking them to organized crime officials and exposed putin's own secret palaces for which there was no public accounting at all as to where the money came from to build these monday strong cities. the last putin-palace video was the most watched video of the year in 2021 in russia, according to youtube. the putin government has not appreciated any of it, as you might imagine. and so a series of increasingly unfortunate events

reporter: down with the czar, one of navalny's slogans over the years.has become known as one of the kremlin's fiercest critics, reportedly organizing and taking part in protests across the country. online, his investigations into what he says are corrupt high-ranking politicians, repeatedly went viral. one video about vladimir putin's alleged palace got tens of millions of views on youtube. >> poutine and his group of thieves one lifelong and uncontrolled power. we have reached the level where it is no longer a group of people stealing from the government, but the government itself is an instrument of corruption. navalny remains a divisive figure in russia. a recent poll shows only 14% of russians support him. but outside of russia, he had just received the european union's highest honor. brent: they are widely considered to be the founders of the electronic music genre. now an exhibit is honoring the german band kraftwerk, and the whole music revolution that they started. after touring some of europe's biggest capitals, the electro expo has landed in t

the three were originally regional coordinators for navalny's party which was being disbanded months ago, it didn't pose a serious threat over the past couple of months, but despite having outlawed the party and poisoned and jailed navalny, the kremlin is still not content. it is steadily rounding up the rest of the party's former leaders. stst today two members of the russian protest group pussy riot were added to russia's foreign agent list. sost were two russian journalis working for radio-free europe. this is unfolding at the same time as russia continues making threats abroad. russia has just amassed something like 100,000 troops on its border with ukraine, and putin is demanding concessions from the united states, from nato. putin says nato must guarantee him that it will not offer membership to ukraine and others former soviet countries and it must roll back its military deployments in central and eastern europe. what happens if nato doesn't agree?ns putin says russia will weigh military options. in fact he told russian state tv that russia's response, quote, could be diverse.

alexi navalny has appeared via video link.avalny is suing the prison for classifying him an extremist threat. he was treated for nerve agent poisoning which he blames on the kremlin. china committed suicide in crimes against humanity. there were many allegations of torture and rape in the chinese detention centers. italy's antitrust watchdog has find amazon more than a billion euros for allegedly abusing its dominance in the market. it is one of the biggest penalties imposed on u.s. tech giant in europe. amazon says plans to appeal. lawyers are suing facebook for failing to stop page -- hate speech against this minority ethnic group. the social media platform allowed the spread of misinformation. they say content shared including direct calls for violence which help to promote atrocities against the rohingyas. atrocities that even amounted to suicide. more than 25,000 people have died. more than 700,000 have fled myanmar. the lawyers are seeking 150 billion u.s. dollars in damages. >> moving again. these rohingyas in bandla --

. >> protest rallies across russia today in support of detained kremlin opposition activist navalny. best-known opposition politician alexey navalny sent to a penal colony, dared to return home five months after a near-fatal nerve agent attack. >> shortly before his detention, navalny saying he's not scared. >>> number two. the new year brought with it great hopes for an end to the covid-19 pandemic. the ushering in of widespread vaccinations. but the virus continued to mutate, killing millions of people around the world. the uneven vaccine rollout hasn't kept up with the speed of the spreading virus, especially in poorer countries. in dehli now, you're never far from heartbreak. almost everyone in the city has been visited by grief. >> despite high vaccination rates, europe became the epicenter of the pandemic once again this winter, the fourth wave of covid-19 is now sweeping across the continent with lockdowns reinstated in some countries. across europe, protests against mandates and health passes have drawn tens of thousands of people. in november, south african scientists discov

mr putin never pronounce the name of alexei navalny and he was twist questions about press freedom.said that, you know, there were global laws about foreign agents and many other countries including the united states. what he forgot to mention was that in the united states, for example, this law only applies to those media organisations who get funding from state budgets of other countries and which don't criticise their own government. in russia, many, you know, those rules are way more weird, weight less clear, and so that is why so many people are getting this from an agent tag which is very devastating for any media organisation or journalist operating in russia at the moment. i will correspond it from bbc russia. a well—known statue commemorating the deaths of students protesting in beijing's tiananmen square has been removed from a university campus in hong kong. it was one of the few remaining public memorials in the semi—autonomous region. hong kong's freedoms have been greatly eroded under a national security law imposed by beijing. russell trott reports. an iconic piece th

mr putin never pronounce the name of alexei navalny and he was twist questions about press freedom andyou know, global laws about foreign agents and many other countries including the united states. was he forgot to mention was that in the united states, for example, this law only applies to those media organisations which get funding from the state budget of other punch countries and don't criticise their own government. in russia, those rules are way more, weigh less clear and that is why so many people are on this edge which is very devastating for any immediate organisationaljournalist immediate organisational journalist operating in immediate organisationaljournalist operating in russia at the moment. olga, thank you very much. hong kong university has defended its decision to remove a famous statue marking the tiananmen square massacre. the statue showed piled—up corpses to commemorate the hundreds, possibly thousands, of pro—democracy protesters who were killed by chinese authorities in 1989. it was one of the few remaining public memorials in hong kong commemorating the inciden

mr putin never pronounce the name of alexei navalny and he twists questions about press freedom.hejust said that, you know, there were global laws about foreign agents and many other countries including the united states. what he forgot to mention was that in the united states, for example, this law only applies to those media organisations who get funding from state budgets of other countries and which don't criticise their own government. in russia, many, you know, those rules are way more weird, much less clear, and so that is why so many people are getting this foreign agent tag which is very devastating for any media organisation orjournalist operating in russia at the moment. olga ivshina from bbc russia. now — when you think of american cowboy films, you'll probably think of the likes ofjohn wayne or clint eastwood getting off their horse and telling surprised frontiersfolk, "you people need a new sheriff." but when it comes to the contemporary western there are new marshalls in town and, howdy partner, they're british! uk actors are in big demand in hollywood with idris e

. >> protests across russia in support of alexi navalny. >> navalny send to a penal colony, who dared months after a near-fatal attack. >>> number two. the new year brought with it great hopes for an end to the covid-19 pandemic. the ushering in of widespread vaccinations. the virus continued to mutate, killing millions of people around the world. the uneven vaccine roll-out hasn't kept up with the speed of the spreading virus, especially in poorer countries. in delhi now, you're never far from heartbreak. almost everyone in the city has been visited by grief. despite high vaccination rates, europe bake the epicenter of the pandemic once again this winter, the fourth wave of covid-19 is now sweeping across the continent. lockdowns reinstated in some countries. across europe, protests against mandates and health passes that drew tens of thousands of people. >>> in november, south african scientists discovered the new omicron variant. it's since spread across the globe. >>> number one, u.s. planes left afghanistan. it took the city of 6 million people in the matter of hours, barely firi

also today, authorities detained allies of alexei navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader. we'll return to all of this, later in the program. prosecutors in hong kong have filed a new charge against jimmy lai, the jailed founder of a pro-democracy newspaper. the paper was shut down last june, and lai was accused today of sedition. he already faced other charges for violating a national security law imposed by mainland china. back in this country, the s. housing boom shows no sign of weakening. home prices in october jumped more than 18% from a year earlier. that was down slightly from september's growth rate, and economists do expect price hikes to slow furthenext year. and on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 95 points to close at 36,398. the nasdaq fell 89 points. the s&p 500 slipped four points. still to come on the newshour: new crackdowns in russia, as the country marks 30 years since the fall of the u.s.s.r. looking at the roots and potential solutions to homelessness. an exclusive look inside an iraqi shia paramilitary group with ties to iran. and

. >> reporter: russia's best known opposition politician alexei navalny sent to a penal colony, he daredths after a near fatal nerve agent attack. >> shortly before his detention, navalny saying he's not scared. >> reporter: number two, the new year brought with it great hopes for an end to the covid-19 pandemic. the ushering in of widespread vaccinations. but the virus continued to mu mutate, killing millions of people around the world. the uneven vaccine rollout hasn't kept up with the speed of the spreading virus, especially in poorer countries. in delhi now, you're never far from heart break. almost everyone in this city has been visited by grief. despite high vaccination rates, europe became the epicenter of the pandemic once again this winter, the fourth wave of covid-19 is now sweeping across the continent, with lockdowns reinstated in some countries. across europe, protests against mandates and health passes has drawn tens of thousands of people. in november, south african scientists discovered the new omicron variant, it has since spread around the globe. number one, the last u.

violations and it's compiled a list, for example, of 420 political prisoners, including one alexei navalnyputin, there are no political prisoners in russia and there can be no discussion about what stalin did in the past, other than to say he beat the nazis in the second world, war and so, therefore, memorial has to cease to exist. you mentioned if you like the memorial sister organization — the memorial human rights centre — and there is a court case indeed in a matter of a few hours, in fact, a supreme court looking at the validity of keeping that going. the assumption would be it will follow suit, it will be told to liquidate as well, and that's the point you make about chronicling current issues? absolutely. i mean, if you were a betting person, i think you could bet that the so—called independent court in russia will find that memorial sister organisation, the human rights centre, is also — as putin himself has described them — an extremist organisation that supports terrorism simply by publishing a list of political prisoners in russia. so again, this is very bad, very bad for civil

element, that it has compiled a list for example of 420 political business, including one alexei navalnyutin, there are no political prisoners in russia and they can be no discussion about what stalin did in the past stop except for winning the second world war so therefore memorial has to cease to exist. there is a court case in a matter of a few hours looking at the validity of keeping memorial�*s sister agency. the point you make about chronicling current issue is what that organisation does? absolutely. if you were a betting person, you could bet that the so—called independent court in russia will find that memorial sister organisation, the human rights centre, which vladimir putin has described as an extremist organisation that supports terrace by quite simply publishing a list of political prisoners in russia. this is very bad for civil society in russia. thank you very much — society in russia. thank you very much for _ society in russia. thank you very much forjoining - society in russia. thank you very much forjoining us. - france has reported a record high number of new confirm

navalny's treatment, press and ngo treatment, on belarus, cyber threats, election interference, detained american citizens and on embassy staffing and many other things. president biden has including today and will continue to raise these issues with president putin. and, yet, as we all know, when the united states and russia can work together, as we are doing now on iran and in the strategic stability talks we offer our citizens and people everywhere the prospect of a better future. what we could and should do together will be put at risk if president putin chooses more aggression against ukraine. senators, while i have you captive i want to thank this committee for moving so many of our state nominees out of committee in recent weeks and even getting some of them confirmed. i met with ambassador flaik this morning one of your previous colleagues and now one of ours for example but with 85 nominees pending consideration before the senate american diplomacy remains at quarter power at main state and around the world. at this time of myriad security challenges including the one we are tal

and you have the jailing this year of alexei navalny, the leading dissident in russia.ad of talking about that, putin has turned to aggression, and he has brought troops to nato's borders which seems to have gotten people's attention. >> nick, what's putin' biden's he decides to up the ante? >> it will be the opposite of what vladimir putin wants. he will send more troops to the western border, the very thing he says he's concerned about. the movement and the increase since the break-up of the soviet union of nato forces has been because of precisely russia's unpredictability, its invasion of georgia in 2008, its annexation of crimea in 2014, and it's created a fear of the eastern allies that russia is in an expansion mood and they need greater forces to defend themselves. it hasn't deployed in numbers. it's been sensitive to what russia has sent. it's produced a trip wire force of several hundred troops, fighter aircraft into the baltic states. this sort of light touch of what nato has done is keep a significant number of resources in ready reserves. the transport netw

three -- >> protest rallies across russia in support of detained kremlin opposition activist, alexei navalny, sent to a penal colony, when he dared to return home, five months after a nerve agent attack. >> shortly before his detention, in a in a nalley saying he is not scared. >> reporter: number two, great hopes to end the covid-19 pandemic, ushering in widespread vaccinations. but the virus continued to mutate, killing millions of people around the world. the uneven vaccine rollout hasn't kept up with the speed of the spreading virus. especially in poorer countries. >> in deli now, you're never far from heartbreak. almost everyone in this city has been visited by grief. >> reporter: despite high vaccination rates, europe can center of the pandemic once again this winter. a fourth wave of covid-19 is now sweeping across the continent. lockdowns reinstated in some countries. across europe, protests against mandates and protests have drawn tens of thousands of people. in november, researchers discovered the omicron variant that's spread around the globe. number one, the last u.s. military pl

to stifle the voices of opposition leaders like alexei navalny. so there really isn't, you know, an alternate loud voice on the streets of russia to say, hey, president putin, you're getting this wrong. i think we have an echo of this today. sergey lavrov hugely experienced diplomat saying we're not going to allow these talks with nato and the united states to drag on. not going to essentially let them filibuster this out. russia's absolutely keeping up the pressure and absolutely keeping up the narrative at home, and this was another thing sergey lavrov said to state media today, that it's the west that's the aggressor, the west increasing its troop presence in ukraine and we have to do something about it. you know, that's the dominant message here. >> it is a message that does resonate with many russians there. nic robertson in russia, thank you for that. >>> an investigation into the january 6th insurrection, asking the supreme court to allow release of hundreds of white house documents. former president trump trying to keep secret more than 70

alexey navalny, imprisoned dissident more or less supports the russian aggressive posture toward ukraine in the past. >> this is a fundamentally different view of ukraine. ukraine was part of the soviet union. soviet union broke up in 1991. by the way, russia signed an agreement with ukraine, recognizing its sovereignty after the breakup of the soviet union union with then president boris yeltsin. it's not the first time russia has tried to change its narrative. within nato you have a division, john, how boldly to push back against russia. what you see is a sort of geographical difference within nato that the eastern countries, no surprise there, the ones closest to the russian threat, seem to be more alarmed, more firm in the kind of response they want to russia than some of the western countries. it's not a straight divided line because the u.s. is very firm in this, by the way, we're on the other side of the ocean, but there is that difference there and russia is trying now to exploit that difference, division in the ranks they hope makes any pushback less than they might otherwise. i

he's engaged in a very significant crackdown domestically, arresting his main opponent, alexy navalny. that is something to distract. that was also happening in 2014. the other thing that was happening in 2014 was ukraine had a revolution essentially throughout a very pro-russia leader and turned in a way toward the west and toward nato, and i think, you know, there's a sense that vladimir putin, he may not want to recreate the soviet union, but you know, all things being equal, he's spoken of ukraine as it should be still a part of russia, that to deny the legitimacy of this country makes it, you know, a key pillar of putin's desire to stay in power and his rationale for leadership of the russian people, so that's a domestic political consideration. also, german chancellor angela merkel is leaving office for the last more than a decade. she's been putin's main interlocutor in europe. this is a transition there as well as the transition from trump to joe biden here in the united states. all of those factors, i think, are playing into it, but remember, vladimir putin's main goal is to

all these people now in exile like myself, in jail like alexei navalny, or killed. >> there's something going on around the globe. there's a rise, and you have written about this, of authoritarian leaders. what's driving it? >> it's not just a rise. we're entering the age of darkness. according to freedom house, it's about 20% of the global population leaving the free countries. just imagine, 20%. so the 80% of people that experience just problems from totalitarian regimes to some sort of liberal democracies but they're not leaving the country. that's why we want americans to appreciate what they have and fight for it. not just to fight against something, but to fight for something. that's why we rallied at 52 dissidents from 28 oppressive countries. we had this project thanks to cnn, put it on air and on cnn.com. it's warning americans about the dangerous of democracy and your obligations to fight for it. >> you have argued that american culture is under assault from both the left and the right. how so? >> yeah, you have two dangers. on the right, you have cult of personality. on the l

he said he would impose costs for navalny, he said he would impose costs for solar winds. he did those things. in ukraine, he will do the same. he's not doing this to saber rattle, he's not doing it to make idle threats, he's doing it to be clear and direct with both the russians and our european allies about the best way forward, and we think this stands the best chance alongside a pathway to deescalate to avert a potential crisis with respect to an invasion of ukraine. >> suggested in recent days, starting talks on a new european. did putin bring this up, and did president putin agree to start those talks? >> i'm not going to get into the details and characterize what president putin said. and i will say that formal agreements or formal treaties were not on the table in the conversation today, but the straightforward notion that the united states flanked by our european allies and partners would be prepared to talk to russia about strategic issues in the european theater. that was on the table, and we are prepared to do that as we have been prepared to do that throughout

alexei navalny, of course, is now a household name in russia, whereas he wasn't well-known a year or two ago, but that's thanks to president putin trying to kill him and put him in jail. so there's a lot of domestic pressure right now on putin, and i think that makes a big difference. and one other point i would make that i don't know whether matt mentioned, but the rhetoric coming out of the kremlin is disturbing and i was in the pentagon in 2014 and the white house situation room when the last invasion, the last big invasion unfolded. and that was the last time we heard this kind of rhetoric about the retelling history, erasing ukrainian history. that is a bit disturbing. that's something he's trying to feed up to the russian people to justify an invasion. >> to think of how ukraine has been treated by russia in the past, 1932, 1933 and going forward, it's something that is really troubling. thank you so much evelyn for a farkas, appreciate your time this morning. >>> still ahead, we'll go back to capitol hill for that6th hearing. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." ing. yo

and i've talked to democracy activists around the world, people like alexei navalny, who has been poisoned in prison by vladimir putin, what they will tell you, sure, it matters that they stand up to dictators, but what is most important is the example of american democracy. if we cannot beat back authoritarianism here in the united states, how on earth are we going to defend democracy around the world? these things are inextricably linked together, and it gets to the sense of what kind of example americans want to set in the world. and if we choose an authoritarian path or enable this kind of authoritarianism, not only is that going to have terrible consequences here at home, but that is going to be a measure and a signal to would-be dictators and authoritarians around the world that the momentum is on their side. this is a real existential moment for democracy in the united states and around the world. >> existential moment, indeed. carol, eugene, ben, thank you all so much. >>> next, the great resignation. how the pandemic and working from home is redefining what flexibility in the work

and finally free navalny.icans have been caring about. we have to continue to stand up for human rights in russia or china as it relates to taiwan. >> they only understand toughness. real quick, the pentagon -- joe biden has decided to have a diplomatic boycott of the winter games in beijing, quote: if the u.s. insists -- this is china's response. if the u.s. insists in woefully clinging to its course cline will take rest liewlt counter measures because we are not sending any democrats, congressional delegations, certainly not the president, china is not happy. is this a good move? >> yes. it is. we should not confer legitimacy upon a country that is currently genocide. i think the thing the biden administration should have been doing earlier, they should have -- i wish they would have made this decision earlier. brought more allies along. maybe set up alternative games for our athletes that would have been very challenging. but i do think that we have to really worry about -- we have to be concerned about the

just today, russia detained two allies of jailed kremlin foe navalny. your reaction? >> yes.thoritarianism closing off dissent. trying to make it a one-party state. and of course, you can't help but see the parallels with trumpism here, but memorial international is an important organization because not only does it protest human rights violations now in russia. it goes back and investigates human rights violations in russia during the stalin regime where stalin killed 10 to 20 million russians. and in the supreme court, the prosecutor for the state said, can you imagine they're trying to tar and feather joseph stalin. that's what we've come to. like what we were talking about before. they're trying to rewrite history in their own interests and it is very scary and dangerous. >> your reaction? >> why should we care, if for no other reason than if you want to see the page from the putin play book that trump pulled out and tried to replicate and would continue to do so if left unchecked. look what putin is doing to his dissidents right now. yes, this is most significant human r