It is possible to think that the fight in Russia pits one towering figure, the pro-democracy activist Alexei Navalny of the opposition, with another towering figure, the incumbent dictator, Vladimir Putin. But it’s not an issue of Navaly and Putin. It is a question of Russian democracy vs. dictatorship.
According to a new opinion in The Washington Post by:

On Feb. 25, Amnesty International stripped away the status of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as a prisoner of conscience. By singling him out, the move was a blunder, one that undermines the Russian people’s fight against Putinism. If international attention remains focused only on the person rather than the protest movement, this will hinder the development of an opposition movement in Russia and inhibit the democratic world’s response to Putin’s authoritarianism.

Read the full opinion here.