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MOSCOW (Aftenposten): The dramatic protests have marked Russia. Now the opposition has chosen a new strategy.
Opposition politician Alexei Navalny contacts his wife Julia during a trial against him. Photo: Simonovsky District Court, Reuters / NTB
Alexei Navalny (44) stood with his hands in his pockets in a glass cage at a trial in Moscow. The judge announced where he will be in the next few years: In prison. Then the opposition politician saw that his wife, Julia, had bowed her head. He cried in his red signal jacket and behind a black bandage.
Navalny then took a hand out of his pocket and drew a heart on the glass wall in front of him. He greeted his wife, blinking before clasping his hands in a heart. He said: Don’t worry, everything will be fine.
It was all over in a few minutes. However, the clip of the opposition politician showing his heart has become the inspiration for a struggling Russian opposition movement. For weeks, more than 10,000 protesters have been arrested after violent clashes with the police.
On Sunday February 14, on the same Valentine’s Day, the opposition invited a new form of demonstration.
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Inside they sat like herring in a barrel. Outside the prison, families desperately searched for their loved ones.
Use your mobile
“Putin has made fear his most important and unique weapon,” Leonid Volkov, one of Navalny’s closest associates, wrote on the Telegram.
The post is titled “Love is stronger than fear” and he came up with a new strategy:
All who support his cause, must enter kl. On Sunday 20 and 20:15 they use the light of their mobile. It can be done from backyards or windows all over Russia. In this way they will avoid violent clashes with riot police. At the same time, the opposition believes this will shed light on how many people actually support their cause.
The idea was taken from Navalny in the courtroom and from Belarus. There, people have been demonstrating for more than six months against the regime. Geir Flikke is Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Oslo. He believes that Volkov was also inspired by his hometown of Yekaterinburg. There, neighbors have tried the same in a local protest against the construction of a church in the city center.
– For a movement that wants justice in Russia, violence, both from the police and the protesters, will weaken the movement. For the opposition, it is important to form a movement of non-violence. He’s had success with that so far, says Flikke.
Opposition pressed
Alexei Navalny revitalized the Russian political opposition when he decided to return to Russia on January 17. He came back even though he knew he would probably end up in jail. He was already arrested at passport control. He sent Russia to a new wave of demonstrations for their freedom.
On February 2, Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. Some of this has already been accomplished, for which he will remain in prison for 2.8 years.
After the verdict, there have been difficult moments for those closest to Navalny. His wife, Julia, has traveled to Germany. The aforementioned Leonid Volkov is wanted in Latvia. However, the Latvian authorities have refused to extradite him. Many more are under house arrest.
In a record number of cities, protesters have called for his release. 10,000 have been arrested. Photo: MAXIM SHEMETOV, Reuters / NTB
Terrible
Furthermore, the founder of Russia’s liberal democratic party, Jabloko, has taken a hard line against Navalny this week.
Grigory Yavlinsky approached Navalny. He called him a xenophobic and an authoritarian nationalist, according to Reuters.
Navalny was barred from Jabloko in 2007. His participation in anti-immigration marches was not accepted. Furthermore, Navalny opposed Yavlinsky’s candidacy for the presidency.
The result has received criticism in its own ranks. Lev Sjlosberg of the party fears such results will cause the party to lose voters.
Geir Flikke believes that the disagreement we now see in the Russian opposition is about a generational divide.
– Navalny does not identify with the old liberal democratic garden. They have branded him a nationalist, he says.
Flikke believes that Sunday’s rally could be important.
The organization around Navalny probably wants with this demonstration to counteract the image of him as a nationalist. In this way, he is portrayed as a family man. He is the ordinary Russian fighting inequality and corruption, explains Flikke.
Alexei Navalny with his wife Julia in Germany. Here, the Russian opposition politician received treatment after a poison attack. Photo: Navalny Instagram
Support for youth
In recent years, Alexei Navalny has gained a following across Russia. There is no doubt that many of them are young. The independent Levada Center regularly measures trust in various politicians.
In the latest poll, President Vladimir Putin is weakened in the youngest age group. Here, only 51 percent of those surveyed now trust the president. This is a 68 percent decrease in January, before Navalny returned to Russia.
Lev Gudkov of the Levada Center comments that this result is a continuation of a two-year trend. But “the pandemic became a catalyst for discontent.” Furthermore, he points to Navalny’s arrest and his film about Putin’s supposed Black Sea castle as reasons for the change.
Helene Skjeggestad is a correspondent in Russia. Follow every day on Snapchat: Beard Snap
