MOSCOW – A Russian judge convicted Aleksei A. Navalny, an opposition politician and one of the Kremlin’s most charismatic critics, of fraud charges on Feb. 8, a move that bars him from running for the presidency next year.
President Vladimir V. Putin — in power since 2000, as president, then prime minister and again as president — is expected to seek a fourth term next year. Mr. Navalny was widely regarded as the only viable rival.
