President Barack Obama has vowed to respond to alleged cyber-hacking by Russia. Speaking on NPR, Obama said, "I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action."
Meanwhile, a Russian political activist with ties to Connecticut has announced that he’ll run for president of Russia in the 2018 election.
Alexei Navalny studied at Yale University as part of a global leadership training program. A vocal critic of current Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny made his announcement in a video posted on the web.
He said that true elections are not a victory for one person. They are a clash of ideas and competition between programs.
This comes as Navalny faces a court trial for embezzlement, a charge his supporters have said is politically motivated. An earlier conviction in the same case was overturned. If convicted in the retrial, he’d be barred from running for office.
In 2011, Navlany helped to galvanize tens of thousands of people to protest in the streets against Vladimir Putin. In 2013, he ran for mayor of Moscow and won more than 27 percent of the vote.
He spent time in New Haven in 2010 as part of the Yale World Fellows program. There he took courses and studied the American political system.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not announced whether he’ll seek reelection in the March 2018 election.
