What we saw this weekend was the end of that hopeful arc. First, the protest movement had been killed, and now so too had its leader. And though over 10,000 people in Moscow came out to bid Alexey farewell, what did it change, really? Putin would still be re-elected overwhelmingly for another six-year term, Russian missiles would keep killing Ukrainian children for no discernible reason, and dissent would land hundreds and thousands more Russians behind bars. If we thought the repression of Russian society was bad 15 years ago, it has become Stalinesque now.