It is a cliche that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and we have seen that play out repeatedly in the political sphere where leaders who arrogate to themselves increasing amounts of power at the expense of counterbalancing democratic institutions become more and more reckless and abusive.
We see this in the case of Russian leader Vladimir Putin who over the years has increasingly undermined Russian democracy and consolidated power in his own hands. Whatever historical reasons he might have given for thinking that Ukraine was actually part of Russia, his invasion of that country was reckless and has not gone well, resulting in a large number of deaths and injuries and destruction, with no end in sight. Although reliable numbers are hard to obtain, it is quite possible that there are a substantial number of Russians who support the invasion, since the move symbolizes the creation of a greater Russia and nationalists tend to favor actions that seem to enhance the power and reach of their country.
The repeated sudden deaths of people who oppose Putin have also become so common that official denials of lack of complicity are highly disingenuous. But the death in captivity on February 16th of dissident Alexei Navalny could well be a bridge too far. Here was a young and healthy man, a vocal critic of Putin, who dies suddenly with no official word on the cause of death or even an autopsy, as far as I know. While the authorities initially refused to hand over the body to his mother, they finally conceded and a funeral was held. I do not know why the family did not arrange for an independent autopsy before the burial.
The recklessness of Putin can be seen by comparing the Navalny case with that of Nelson Mandela. Mandela was a prisoner of the apartheid regime on South Africa for decades. I read that the South African government was fearful that if Mandela died in captivity, that would create a major uproar locally and internationally and so they made every effort to make sure that he was not in danger even as they refused to release him. But Navalny seemed to have received no similar consideration. Whether his death will galvanize opposition to Putin’s stranglehold on power remains to be seen.