--- description: Find out why Alexei Navalny is one of the 100 most influential people of 2021. title: Alexei Navalny: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddb42b12995871e6/698a1ca6929fad6d40bf7ab5/alexei-navalny-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 15, 2021 # Alexei Navalny by Garry Kasparov  Alexei Navalny Peter Rigaud—Laif/Redux Alexei Navalny Peter Rigaud—Laif/ReduxPeter Rigaud—Laif/Redux In a world increasingly focused on self-interest and self-preservation, Russian opposition activist [Alexei Navalny](https://time.com/5933718/alexey-navalny-putin-protests/ "undefined") did the unimaginable this year: he was selfless and brave. In January, after recovering in Germany from a nearly fatal [poisoning](https://time.com/5886151/alexei-navalny-poisoning-allegations/ "undefined"), Navalny returned to Russia. Despite—or potentially because of—the considerable domestic and global attention on his attempted assassination and return, he was arrested upon landing. The subsequent [protests](https://time.com/5936827/russia-protests-alexey-navalny-inequality/ "undefined") supporting him were brutally suppressed, and this summer a Russian court banned his political and anticorruption organizations, calling them extremist. Many of his allies have been detained or forced to flee the country. Navalny now sits in one of Russia’s worst prisons, his life in the hands of a dictator who all evidence says already tried to kill him once for exposing the grotesque corruption of his regime. Navalny saw no alternative to risking everything to make a difference in his country. Even the all-powerful [Vladimir Putin](https://time.com/tag/vladimir-putin/ "undefined") recognizes the power of a single man without fear. _Kasparov is the chairman of the Human Rights Foundation_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096084/alexei-navalny/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096084/alexei-navalny/"},"headline":"Alexei Navalny","datePublished":"2021-09-15T11:19:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:32.530Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096084/alexei-navalny/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","T100 2021"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddb42b12995871e6/698a1ca6929fad6d40bf7ab5/alexei-navalny-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddb42b12995871e6/698a1ca6929fad6d40bf7ab5/alexei-navalny-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096084/alexei-navalny/","name":"Alexei Navalny"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | See Everyone on the 2021 TIME100 List","description":"See every 2021 TIME100 Honoree in One Minute","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZgB6AGK2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-09-15T10:45:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZgB6AGK2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096084/alexei-navalny/","duration":"PT57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096084/alexei-navalny/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```