Alexei Navalny first came to America, to Dallas, in 2005, hosted by Open World, a Congressional Office for International Leadership exchange program for emerging world leaders. Even then, in his late 20s, the passion and courage and conviction and charisma and inspiration that would later define Alexei Navalny to the world and ultimately doom him in his homeland were already evident. https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4513916-exchange-programs-are-the-long-game-of-investing-in-the-best-and-brightest-of-a-country/