If unshackled, Putin foe thinks he could win
MOSCOW — As the mostserious challenger during Vladimir Putin’s 18 years in power, Alexei Navalny has endured arrests, show trials and facefuls of green antiseptic that damaged his vision.
But in an interview Monday, he said the biggest thing keeping him from becoming Russia’s next president is a political system that punishes him for rallying support and conspires to keep his face off the airwaves.
Putin’s approval rating is astronomical, and he is widely expected to win another term with ease when presidential voting begins March 18, but the fact that he won’t even say Navalny’s name suggests the anti-corruption crusader has struck a nerve. Navalny’s criminal record will probably keep him off the ballot — a sign, he says, of how much he frightens the political class.
Navalny, 41, said he would win it “if I am allowed to run and if I’m allowed to use major media.” And he said the Kremlin knows it.
“It’s the main reason they don’t want me to run,” he said. “They understand perfectly how ephemeral the support for them is.”
But that support certainly looks strong: The latest independent poll, conducted this month by the Levada Center, suggests 75 percent of Russians would vote for Putin. People in much of Russia back Putin as a matter of course, and Navalny supporters are routinely heckled, arrested and fined when they try to spread their message.
But there are also signs that enthusiasm for Putin may be waning. Another Levada poll, conducted in April, found that 51 percent of people are tired of waiting for Putin to bring “positive change” — 10 percentage points higher than a year ago.
Navalny hopes to capitalize on that discontent.
“Putin has nothing to say,” Navalny said. “All he can promise is what he used to promise before, and you can check that these promises did not come true and cannot come true.”
Navalny gets out his message on social media and broadcasts a weekly program on YouTube. But television — the main source of information for most Russians — remains off limits because it’s controlled by the government.
Other opposition candidates are expected to run, notably socialite Ksenia Sobchak, the daughter of Putin’s mentor — but there is wide speculation that her candidacy is a Kremlin plot to split Navalny’s support.
Navalny published his full election platform last week, focusing on fighting corruption and funneling more money into education and health care. He calls for a windfall tax on oligarchs and huge cuts to Russia’s bloated bureaucracy. Unlike Putin’s focus on foreign policy, Navalny’s platform is almost entirely domestic.
He currently has more than 190,000 volunteers, most of them young, and they have opened campaign offices in 83 cities and towns.
In his only formal election campaign, Navalny ran for Moscow mayor in 2013 and got nearly 30 percent of the vote.