Opposition leader and prominent Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny was detained after he returned to Russia Sunday, five months after he was poisoned in an apparent assassination attempt.

What happens to Vladimir Putin’s opponent after his arrest depends on what officials think they can get away with

Since Alexei Navalny emerged as a top critic of Vladimir Putin more than a decade ago, the Kremlin has done its utmost to smother him: tying him up in courtrooms, locking him down under house arrest, and taking his brother as hostage by sentencing him to a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Finally, a decision appeared to have been taken to eliminate him when he was allegedly poisoned by Russia’s FSB spy agency. With that operation a failure and Navalny defying the Kremlin to return to Moscow, Putin’s dilemma remains what to do with one of his most stalwart and effective critics.

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