Navalny pals to stage protests across Russia
MOSCOW — Allies of jailed and hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said they plan what they hope will be the largest street protests in modern Russian history on Wednesday to highlight Navalny's declining health and a crackdown on his supporters.
“Things are developing too quickly and too badly,” they wrote in a statement on Navalny's website announcing their plans for nationwide protests. “We can no longer wait and postpone. An extreme situation demands extreme decisions.”
The protests, which the authorities regard as illegal and have broken up with force in the past, are planned for the same day as President Vladimir Putin gives an annual state-of-the-nation speech to the political elite.
Navalny, a fierce opponent of Putin, started refusing food on March 31 in protest at what he said was the refusal of prison authorities to provide him with adequate medical care for acute back and leg pain.
A medical trade union with ties to Navalny said on Saturday he was in a critical condition, citing medical tests which it said showed that Navalny's kidneys could soon fail, which could lead to cardiac arrest.
Prison authorities say they have offered Navalny proper medical care but that the 44-year-old opposition politician has refused it and insisted on being treated by a doctor of his choice from outside the facility, a request they have declined.
Russia's ambassador to Britain said in a BBC TV interview aired on Sunday that Navalny was attentionseeking, but that Moscow would ensure he lived.
“He will not be allowed to die in prison, but I can say that Mr. Navalny, he behaves like a hooligan, absolutely,” Ambassador Andrei Kelin said in the interview.
“His purpose for all of that is to attract attention for him (self).”
Navalny has said prison authorities are threatening to put him in a straitjacket to force-feed him unless he accepts food.
His supporters face the prospect of their movement being officially outlawed and declared extremist, a move that would open up activists to long jail terms.
Navalny's allies had declared a moratorium on protests after staging three demonstrations at the height of winter which saw thousands detained in a harsh crackdown by authorities. Some protesters were unhappy that the demonstrations were halted, but organizers said they would hold a big protest once 500,000 people had registered online to take part.