A year has passed when Alexi Navalni died in a Russian Penal Colony – a death his supporters believe that the Kremlin was ordered. Twelve months later, President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle, who were fighting Navalni, are still in power, and protests on a large scale that the greatest strength of Navalni has once evaporated.
Meanwhile, Navalani Anti -corruption basis (ACF, its Russian brief name, known by FBK) – who angered millions of people with the revelations of corruption among the supreme officials of Russia during his lifetime, including Putin – “unchanged” to “irreversible The form is lost “, his rights, independent Russian scientist Alexander Kinave said.
Speaking with DW, Kinave said that ACF was a figure of opposition, which was for an organization affecting political life in Russia. “ACF was worthy of reporting of Alve; what is this incident in itself.”
But, he said, now this is not the case for two main reasons. The first was Navalani’s arrest. “As the most imported opposition politician was isolated, the field of politics was reduced,” Heer. Public interest in the “second or third-level” figures, as Kinave said to Navalani’s internal circle, which does not compare interest in Navalani Himfal.
Russia was changed in Ukraine
Kinave believes that the general public began to lose interest after Navalani’s arrest, when meditation moved to the struggle for its release. “It was no longer a fight for the interests of Russia for the people, but was a fight for him as a person,” he explained.
The second reason is the war of Russia against Ukraine, which Kinave, who lives in Moscow, called a “special operation”. The use of the term “war” in relation to the Ukraine conflict is still punishable by law in Russia.
This “special operation” changed the political agenda a lot, he said. “Simply put: When armed conflicts occur, the country is living under restrictions, and in an emergency, the theme of corruption investigation against some big and small officials becomes a very secondary concern,” he said .
According to Kynev, Navalani’s ACF is now “resumed for the outer fringe of public interest,” to offer more to offer. This is despite the fact that many political activists, including Navalni’s wife Yulia Navalanaya, have fled from Russia in the last three years, and a new beginning and spoken can be spoken for at least part of the Russian society.
Opposition fragmented without Navalani
Instead, the people of the Navalani – all known as the Kremlin critics – have had to defend themselves against the allegations from other remarkable disgrade. Thesis claimed that the ACF, who had spent years spent years spent in highlighting dirty behavior with his investigative research, resorted to doubtful activities. Some Russian exile media and social media outlets began a fully developed middle fight.
As former MP Dimitri Gudkov told DW, it was the Navalani Foundation that was affected. “Unknowingly, the opposition has failed to unite and agree in any way,” said.
Gudkov, also, now lives in exile. Last August, he was sentenced to eight years in jail, accused of “defaming the Russian army”. Gudkov publicly criticized Russian aggressive in Ukraine.
However, as Gudkov said, it is difficult for the opposition to agree on any measure, “because nothing is really possible from abroad. We all can support the media about a section of the public. Media is supported. “
Therefore, he cannot think what kind of political action in Russia can influence any change really, because “whoever now takes it to the streets is punished for a long prison.”
Has Peepal demolished by Navalani’s death?
Maxim resznnic, another former Russian politician, agrees with Gudkov. Once a member of the St. Petersburg Parliament for the opposition party Yabloko, he also had to run abroad about his criticism of Kremlin. Talking with DW, Rznik criticized the opposition’s inability to unite.
“None of us is a moral benchmark; we are away from Navalni as the moon,” Heer said. “We do not try to replace her, which cannot be taken. But we should try to understand her legacy, which in my view, to fight together to fight.”
Resident said that Navalani’s death may have discouraged those who wanted to actively involve opposition and resistance. “I think, among other things, Putin’s purpose was to shock the society again, and what is the attempt to kill Asha, the killing of Navalani,” Hey said. “Many people discouraged, disillusioned, lost faith, and experience tremendous pain.”
However, he said, there are other people who are “capable of processing this pain, who keep going, and doing everything to ensure that the sacrifice of Alexi was not meaningless.”
Resident believes that, for this reason, Freedom will be a Freedom Fighter in Russia in the future. “I am strongly convinced that, soon or later, Navalani will win this fight,” he said, optimistic.
‘Who wants courage now?’
Gudkov believes that Navalani’s name will take a rapid symbolic meaning, inspired more and more people over time. However, he said that Navalani was “murdered in the second year of the war, when the rule in Russia could not be curbed now.”
He believes that, for many people, it made his death less shocking; Instead, it “intensified their hatred of the government.”
At the same time, he thinks that this is a lesson for the future. “In Russia, it is always customary for people to run away from responsibility. A politician shows, and everyone thinks this hope.
This article was original in German.
