Putin’s Last Legs: Alexei Navalny and Russian Political Opposition

By Joshua Wells ‘24

On January 23, 2021, protests broke out in 109 cities across Russia as citizens came together to oppose the arrest of political activist Alexei Navalny. In the days since, many are left asking a simple question: how did things escalate to this point?

Who is Alexei Navalny? 

Alexei Navalny is a 44 year-old anti-corruption campaigner and real estate lawyer who has become a symbol of political opposition in Russia. He started his anti-corruption career as a shareholder activist when he ran a blog publicizing information about the finances of large Russian corporations. He uncovered this information by buying shares of companies and suing them for intel. In doing this, he gradually exposed the hidden wealth of the Russian elite. He began to rise to political prominence during protests in 2011 and 2012 in response to Putin’s announcement: that he intended to run for a third term as president. Using his blog and social media, Navalny managed to draw a large number of people into the protests, which demonstrated his ability to gather supporters for a cause. His influence grew further in 2013 when he ran for the mayor of Moscow against Putin’s ex-chief of staff and drew 27% of the vote. For a Russian political post, 27% is a large outcome for an opposition figure. Navalny’s influence remained restricted to the big cities due to his reliance on the internet. However, after 2013, internet access grew and Navalny’s message was able to spread and reach more people throughout Russia. This is exemplified by a YouTube video he released in 2017 exposing the wealth and connections of the Russian Prime Minister, Dimitry Medvedev. The Russian state has repeatedly arrested and charged Navalny as political retribution. In 2014, he was convicted on a corruption charge, which the state has used to keep him off of ballots, such as in 2018 when he tried to run for president. 

When considering Navalny as an important opposition figure, it is necessary to point out that his values do not align with much of the opposition. The idea that he represents certain western-influenced political ideas does not hold up to popular scrutiny. He has a history of repeatedly aligning himself with Russian Nationalists and has expressed anti-immigration views. While these more extreme views seem to have subsided in the last few years, there still remains a video where he likens immigrants to tooth cavities and says that “everything in our way should be carefully but decisively be removed through deportation.” While Navalny shifts-left politically, his position will continue to be challenged due to the existence of such videos and statements. 

The Poisoning
On August 20, 2020, Navalny boarded a domestic Russian flight from Tomsk to Moscow. During the flight, Navalny cried out in extreme pain and forced the plane to make an emergency landing in Omsk. After emergency treatment, it was believed that Navalny had been poisoned and needed to be treated. At first, the Russian doctors were reluctant to allow him to leave, but pressure from the German government resulted in Navalny being flown to Berlin for treatment. While he was in a coma, a German military lab came back with the result: Navalny had been poisoned with Novichok, a Russian military-grade nerve agent used multiple times before against enemies of the Kremlin. This sparked an international reaction where the German and United Kingdom’s governments demanded Russia to hold an enquiry. The UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Rabb, said that use of such a “banned” weapon requires “accountability” and that the Russian Government should hold a “full and transparent investigation.” The Kremlin replied that “attempts to somehow associate Russia with what happened are unacceptable,” as Dmitry Peskov said to the BBC. It seems clear to the international community that this poisoning was an attempted political assassination by the Kremlin, but Russia holds strong in denying involvement.  

Post-Poisoning 
On the 7th of September, 2020, Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary, tweeted that Navalny had been taken out of his induced coma and was responding to speech. After this, he started to make a quick recovery and talk about a return to Russia. For the next two months, he worked with British investigative journalists, Bellingcat, and Russian outlet, The Insider, to look into his poisoning. By examining leaked telecommunication information and flight records, the investigators were able to determine that a team of officers from the Russian domestic intelligence agency had been following Navanly and were close to him during the time it is believed he was exposed to Nochivok. Later, Navalny released a video where he called a member of this agency while pretending to be a senior Russian official asking for a debriefing. The officer outlined the poisoning of Navalny and how Novichok was applied to the inseam of his underwear. With this evidence, Navalny made a statement in December where he publicly accused Putin’s government of his attempted assasination.

Navalny’s Arrest

After these events, the Kremlin threatened that, should Navalny return to Russia, he would be arrested. Despite this, on January 17, 2021, Navalny boarded a flight to Sheremetyevo International Airport where his supporters waited. Yet, during the flight, the plane was redirected to Vnukovo International Airport, and supporters rushed to join him. The formal reason for this change is because of a stuck snow plow--yet it is suspected that this was due to the crowds at Sheremetyevo. After disembarking, Navalny made a short statement in which he restated his lack of fear and his happiness to be back in Russia. Once he reached passport control, he was met by a group of police officers who arrested him. The charge was that Navalny had breached his terms of parole by going to Germany without informing prison officers. 

The Corresponding Protests 

After his sentencing, Navalny released a video where he urged his supporters to take to the streets and protest in order to protect their own futures. On January 23rd, six days after the arrest, protests were organized all over Russia. The plan was that protestors would come out into the streets at 2 p.m in their local time. This meant that, while most of Moscow was asleep, protests would start on the eastern coast. A wave of protests ran across the country as crowds continued to to walk out into the streets when it became their time. According to one count, 122 different cities and towns held protests ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of individuals. In response, riot police went out into many cities to try and separate the crowds. It is reported that by the time it was late evening in Moscow, over 3,000 people had been arrested. In Saint Petersburg, a video was recorded where a riot officer hospitalized a woman after kicking her in the stomach. In Moscow, officers charged at the crowds in an attempt to disperse them. The protestors fought back against the officers. At one point, a government car was noticed by the crowd, which attacked it. The driver of the car ended up being injured. While these protests may not have had the desired outcome of removing Putin’s government, they are powerful enough to show that the opposition in Russia will no longer stay quiet. The current system of managed democracy is not appeasing the opposition, and conditions remain ripe for opposition figures, such as Navalny, to use their influence to challenge Putin.

Navalny has managed to position himself as a key opposition figure to Putin’s government through the power of social media and the internet. The international community should keep a close eye on how this situation progresses — both for the safety of Navalny and the stability of the Russian state.