Who is Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny?
Today, anyone interested in the political situation in Russia can often hear about the “fearless and noble opposition leader” Alexei Navalny, who has been imprisoned for allegedly fighting corruption and the arbitrariness of the Kremlin. According to Western media, he is an honest politician and enjoys great support from the Russian population. But who is he and what does he really do?
The noble portrait of Alexei Navalny was created by the West and requires a few touches. Not many people know Alexei Navalny is a nationalist. In 2007 he was expelled from the Russian opposition party Yabloko over the organisation of the so-called White Marches and his numerous ultra-nationalists, antiSemitic and xenophobic statements towards migrants from central Asia and Russian ethnic minorities. He never denied his nationalist rhetoric, which was one of the reasons Amnesty International has recently stripped him of his prisoner of conscience status.
On 2 February, Moscow City Court changed Navalny’s suspended sentence to jail time for violating the terms of his probation in the Yves Rocher case. Navalny was accused of fraud and money laundering, both offences for which the EHCR recognises similar sentences/verdicts imposed in other countries.
As for the alleged poisoning of Navalny, Russia is still waiting for details of Navalny’s medical tests from German authorities and from the organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. An investigation based only on a “highly likely” concept cannot be started and it would also never be considered sufficient for initiating judicial proceedings in any court in the EU.
Navalny does not enjoy the widespread popularity in Russia. This was confirmed in November 2020 by a survey initiated by the Levada Centre, a Russian independent, non-governmental polling and sociological research organisation. The survey indicated that only 2% of respondents were ready to vote for Navalny as a potential president of Russia.
In fact, the Russian majority perceives him as a western paid personality who craves publicity and whose agenda is to demonise the Kremlin. Today the main task of this person is the destabilization of the political situation in Russia at all cost. His corruption cases investigations in the government were checked by independent organisations and turned out to be lies.
Most of the opposition demonstrations organised by Navalny were held in violation of Russian laws and aimed at provoking law enforcement agencies into violent actions in order to create an image of martyrs suffering for human rights. He is doing everything to impose more and more Western sanctions on Russia and at the same time hypocritically criticises the authorities for the poor economic situation in the country.
The activation of this so-called oppositionist has recently been caused by the upcoming parliamentary elections in Russia. Its goal coincides with the Western one - to create an artificial protest potential and conditions for a color revolution in Russia.
So, Alexei Navalny is a thief, provocateur and a soulless instrument of political struggle, engaged by the West and causing great harm to his country and his people.
That is why he is not at all suitable for the role of a people’s leader, and the Russians understand this and do not consider him seriously.
While everyone is surely entitled to his own opinion, it is necessary to consider all the facts if you intend to make an informed, reliable and evidencebased judgement!