alexi navalny ran for mayor of moscow in 2013. he did surprisingly well, freaked out putin even more. this past year, alexi navalny announced he would run for president of russia against vladimir putin next year when putin's term is up. you can see where this is going, right? the "new york times" moscow bureau described him a couple of days ago as the only opposition candidate with a broad into yast i can popular following in russia. last one left. and at one level that makes us all surprised to learn that he's still alive. that vladimir putin allowed him to exist for this long. but it means you will not be surprised to learn why the "new york times" moscow bureau was writing about him for an american audience just last week is because last week putin figured out a way to disqualify alexi navalny from being an opposition figure. from running against putin for president. they found a remote regional court hundreds of miles from moscow and they got that court to convict alexi navalny in some obscure scheme involving timber futures.

similarly, the russian courts' treatment of alexi navalny begs the questions about the democratic process under putin. how we deal with russia is going to be one of the major projects for secretary of state rex tillerson. it is something for which he is ideally suited given his deep relationships and understanding of the geostrategic issues at play. secretary tillerson knows the dangers posed by russia and the importance of restoring a credible u.s. deterrent so moscow can no longer exploit what it perceives as american weakness. with that, i look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how to address these problems in a way that moves our approach to russia and the right direction. again, thank you and i'll turn to our distinguished ranking member, and my friend, ben cardin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i welcome both of our witnesses today. we are indeed very fortunate to have you participate in this discussion. we look to people who are very knowledgeable on u.s. and russian relations. i want to start by thanking you. there is no person in the united states senate that is more prote