>> APPRECIATE YOU HOPPING TO A CAMERA WHILE COVERING THE WAR THERE IN KYIV. WE'LL TALK SOON. LET'S BRING IN FORMER AMBASSADOR RUSH, NOW PART OF THE INSTITUTIONAL STUDIES AT STANFORD, ANALYST AND FORMER AMEND McFALL. I MENTIONED YOUR REACTION ON TWITTER. I'D LIKE TO HEAR WHAT MORE YOU'RE HEARING FROM YOUR CONTACTS INSIDE RUSSIA. >> GUYS, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY. I'M GOING TO TRY TO BE ANALYTIC, BUT I WANT YOU TO KNOW, ALEXEI NAVALNY WAS MY FRIEND. I WAS WITH HIS WIFE LAST NIGHT. I'M HERE IN MUNICH, I WAS TALKING TO HER. HIS DAUGHTER, DASHA, GOES TO SCHOOL AT STANFORD. THIS IS AN EMOTIONAL TIME FOR ME. PUTIN KILLED NAVALNY. LET'S BE CRYSTAL CLEAR ABOUT THAT. I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY, YOU KNOW, INVESTIGATION, HE WAS ARRESTED, HE WAS NO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. HE HAS PUT HIM IN A CELL WHICH WAS DESIGNED TO KILL. TODAY, HE IS DEAD. WHY DID PUTIN KILL NAVALNY? PUTIN IS WEAK. YOU DON'T KILL PEOPLE IF YOU'RE STRONG. PUTIN KILLED NAVALNY BECAUSE NAVALNY WAS THE ONE OPPOSITION LEADER IN RUSSIA THAT PUTIN FEARED THE MOST. THIS IS A TRAGIC DAY FOR ME, AND IT SHOULD BE A TRAGIC DAY FOR ANYBODY WHO CARES ABOUT DEMOCRACY. NAVALNY, IN MY VIEW, WAS THE -- PUT HIM IN THE CATEGORY OF BRAVE, COURAGEOUS LEADERS THAT, YOU KNOW, REMEMBER, HE WENT BACK TO RUSSIA. HE DIDN'T HAVE TO GO BACK. HE WENT BACK FOR HIS COUNTRY, BECAUSE HE WAS A PATRIOT THAT BELIEVED THAT HIS COUNTRY COULD BE DIFFERENT. I PUT HIM IN THE SAME RANKS AS THE NAVALNY OF MANDELA AND HOVEL BUT ONE TRAGIC DIFFERENCE NOW. NAVALNY IS DEAD. >> AMBASSADOR, I'M SO SORRY. I KNOW HE WAS A CLOSE FRIEND OF YOURS, AND, GOSH, I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE WITH HIS WIFE LAST NIGHT. CAN YOU REMIND OUR VIEWERS, BECAUSE SOMETIMES IT'S LOST, THEY KNOW THE NAME BUT NOT THE FULL STORY, ABOUT THE LENGTHS TO WHICH ALEXEI NAVALNY WENT TO FIGHT THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT, THE AUTHORITARIANISM OF PUTIN. AS YOU SAID, EVEN AFTER HE WAS POISONED, HE VOLUNTARILY RETURNED TO THIS COUNTRY. HE SPOKE OUT IN A WAY THAT ULTIMATELY COST HIM HIS LIFE. >> NAVALNY WAS A YOUNG OPPOSITION LEADER MOSTLY FOCUSED ON ANTI-CORRUPTION. WHAT CORRUPT LEADERS FEAR THE MOST ARE FOUNDATIONS, HIS ANTI-CORRUPTION FOUNDATION THAT WAS FOCUSED ON THAT. BACK IN 2011 AND 2012, WHEN THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ON THE STREETS OF MOSCOW. A LOT OF AMERICANS AND MAYBE MOST OF THE WORLD HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT, BUT WHEN I WAS AMBASSADOR, THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE RALLYING AT NAVALNY'S DEMONSTRATIONS, ANTI-CORRUPTION AND FOR DEMOCRACY. THERE WAS A TIME WHERE MILLIONS SUPPORTED PEOPLE LIKE NAVALNY. HE RAN FOR MAYOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR, 2013. HE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO CAMPAIGN. HE WAS NOT ALLOWED ON TV. HE GAINED ALMOST A THIRD OF THE VOTE. HE WAS A POPULAR LEADER THAT, REMEMBER, PUTIN TRIED TO KILL HIM BEFORE. HE POISONED HIM VERY CLEARLY. HE WAS SHIPPED OUT OF GERMANY. THEY BARELY SURVIVED. HE FINALLY RECOVERED. MANY PEOPLE SAID, "ALEXEI, DON'T GO BACK." HE SAID, "MIKE, THIS IS MY COUNTRY. I'M NOT LETTING HIM CHASE ME OUT OF IT." WHEN HE ARRIVED, THEY ARRESTED HIM AND PUT HIM IN PRISON, AND HE'S BEEN IMPRISONED EVER SINCE. THE CONDITIONS HE'S BEEN LIVING UNDER HAVE BEEN WORSE AND OR AND WORSE AND, GRADUALLY, I THINK -- LET'S WAIT UNTIL WE SEE THE AWE AUTOPSY AND ALL THAT, BUT THEY WERE SLOWLY KILLING HIM AND HE
