Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday rejected a claim by leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, that a luxury Black Sea property belongs to him.
"Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did," Putin said during a video call, in reference to a video that Navalny's team published last week. The video has been viewed more than 86 million times on YouTube.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Face of Russia's opposition
The lawyer-turned-political campaigner has been among the most prominent figures of Russia's opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Navalny came to prominence in 2008, when his blog exposing malpractice in Russian politics and among the country's major state-owned companies came to public attention. Revelations published on his blog even led to resignations, a rarity in Russian politics.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Disputed parliamentary elections
In 2011 Navalny was arrested for the first time. He ended up spending 15 days in prison for his role at a rally outside the State Duma in Moscow. A recent parliamentary election victory for Putin's United Russia had been marred by instances of ballot stuffing, reported by demonstrators on social media. Upon his release, Navalny pledged to continue the protest movement.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Second jail term
After being reelected president in 2012, Putin ordered Russia's Investigative Committee to launch a criminal inquiry into Navalny's past. The following year the campaigner was charged and sentenced again, this time for five years, for alleged embezzlement in the city of Kirov. However, he was released the following day pending affirmation from a higher court. The sentence was later suspended.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Anti-Kremlin platform grows
Despite being embroiled in legal troubles, Navalny was allowed to run in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election. A second-place finish behind Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin was seen as an overwhelming success and galvanized the Russian opposition movement.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Navalny takes to social media
His anti-Kremlin rhetoric led Navalny to be banned from appearing on Russian state-owned television. That forced him to deliver his political message over social media and his blog. His talent for public speaking, punchy use of language and humorous mockery of Putin and his loyalists mobilized a legion of young followers.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Presidential ambitions
In December 2016, the opposition leader announced the formal start of his campaign to run for the Russian presidency in March 2018. However, repeated accusations of corruption, which his supporters say are politically motivated, ultimately barred him from running for public office.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Convicted of corruption
In 2016 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia had violated Navalny's right to a fair trial in the Kirov case. Although Russia's Supreme Court overturned the five-year sentence, the verdict was sent back to the Kirov court. In 2017, this court again handed Navalny a suspended five-year sentence.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Moscow's biggest protests in 6 years
In February 2017, anti-corruption rallies across dozens of Russian cities led to the arrests of over 1,000 demonstrators, including Navalny. The protests, believed to have been the largest in the Russian capital since 2012, were spurred by a report published by Navalny linking Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to a property empire valued at billions of euros. Navalny was released 15 days later.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Physically assaulted
Navalny was assaulted and hospitalized in April 2017 after being hit in the eye with a chemical green dye. The attack permanently damaged his right cornea. Navalny accused Russian authorities of stopping him from seeking medical treatment abroad due to the embezzlement conviction against him. He was eventually permitted by the Kremlin human rights council to travel to Spain for eye surgery.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Repeated arrests
In 2018, Navalny was jailed for 30 days. After his release in September, he faced another 20-day stint. In April 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Russia had violated Navalny's rights by holding him under house arrest for most of 2014 during the Kirov embezzlement case.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Alleged poisoning
In July 2019, only weeks after being released from a 10-day jail sentence, Navalny was again jailed for 30 days for violating Russia's strict protest laws. The opposition leader accused Russia of poisoning him with an allergic agent while in jail.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Raids and frozen assets
Using YouTube and social media, Navalny had amassed a following of millions by late December 2019. Then police raided his Anti-Corruption Foundation headquarters (above), detaining him in the process. His staff said officials wanted to confiscate their tech equipment. Just a few months later, in March, Navalny reported that his bank accounts and those of his family members had been frozen.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
A plane — and a coma
On August 20, Navalny's spokesperson announced the activist became violently ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow. The plane made an emergency landing, and Navalny was rushed to a hospital in Russia's Omsk and later evacuated to Berlin's Charite clinic (above). Doctors said he was in a coma. Navalny's associates claimed he had been poisoned and pointed to previous attacks on the activist.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Back from the brink
Navalny was taken out of the coma less than three weeks later and was said to be responsive. Not long afterwards, he was posting on Instagram, saying he was slowly regaining strength following weeks of only being "technically alive." The German government said labs in France and Sweden both confirmed that Navalny had been poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
A smoking gun?
Months later, Navalny released the recording of a phone call he made to a man he said was a member of Russia's Federal Security Service, whose headquarters is pictured above. The alleged agent said he was not directly involved in poisoning Navalny, but deeply involved with efforts to clean up any traces of Novichok. Moscow dismissed the recording as fake.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Return, arrest, and trial
Navalny had promised to return to Russia and he did so, despite warnings that he would be arrested. He was taken into police custody shortly after arriving in Moscow. The dissident, seen here at a passport control point, had said he was "not afraid of anything." He was sentenced to 30 days in prison at a swiftly convened trial the following day.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Conviction and sentencing
Navalny was ordered to spend two years and eight months in a penal colony for violating terms of his probation while recovering in Germany from his poisoning. He dismissed the proceedings an attempt by the Kremlin to scare Russians into submission.
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Who is Alexei Navalny?
Ruling sparks unrest in Russia
Navalny supporters took to the streets soon after the prison sentence was announced. Navalny's aides called for a rally in Moscow's Manezhnaya Square, which was blocked off by riot police.
Author: David Martin
Navalny ally calls for new protests
Meanwhile, an ally of Navalny called for new protests across Russia on January 31 to demand the release of the opposition politician, who is serving a 30-day jail sentence in relation to a case about alleged parole violations.
Leonid Volkov, the ally, made the call on the Telegram messaging app and Twitter, and promised to share more details later on Monday.
"January 31, 12:00. All cities of Russia. For freedom for Navalny. For freedom for everyone. For justice. More details later today," Volkov tweeted.
Gerhard Mangott, a Russia expert at Innsbruck University, told DW that he expects protests in Russia to continue, as social frustration has built up in recent years.
Protesters have been "woken up" from their resignation, he said.
"They have been galvanized — not so much by the poisoning of Alexei Navalny — but by his current arrest and by this video about Putin's alleged palace on the Black Sea," said Mangott, adding that the new protests in Russia may be attracting a larger audience.
"Not everyone who took to the streets on Saturday was demonstrating for Navalny, there were a large number of people who are frustrated about economic recession and political corruption."
Russian police on Saturday detained more than 3,500 people – a record for a single day – at rallies in over 100 cities around the country. Protesters took to the streets to call for "Navalny's freedom, for freedom for all, and for justice."
The 44-year-old activist was detained earlier this month upon his arrival to Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering following a poisoning attack with the Novichok nerve agent.
He could be jailed for more than three years if the court rules in favor of Russia's incarceration system, which says Navalny failed to check in with it twice per month while he was recovering in Germany.
Moscow accuses US tech firms of interference
The calls come as Moscow issued a complaint to the US embassy for what the Kremlin said were social media posts promoting anti-Russian demonstrations, and accused big US tech companies of interfering in the country's internal affairs.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state-run media that Russia had complained to US diplomats for "supporting illegal rallies" in several cities, and said officials would probe American companies over their alleged interference.
"We are doing serious work on how American internet platforms were involved in the American side's interference in our internal affairs," she said.
Ahead of last weekend's demonstrations, Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor ordered several social media networks, including YouTube and Instagram, to delete calls for rallies that were posted on their platforms.
lc/rt (AFP, Reuters)
