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The world is watching the protests in Russia in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and is considering what consequences they might have for the Kremlin.
Record protests have occurred in Russia in recent years. Across the country, people demonstrated in support of the detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Law enforcement officers carried out harsh arrests.
The whole world followed the protests in Russia.
Correspondent.net compiled publications from the Western press on the actions in the Russian Federation.
Protestersdared– The New York Times
The publication notes that while the protests pose no direct threat to Putin, “they show the scale of fatigue in the stagnant and corruption-ridden political order that Putin has led for two decades.”
The newspaper highlights that judging from the videos that circulated online, where protesters disobey law enforcement officers, shouting slogans and throwing snowballs at special forces cars, it is clear that protesters in Russia have turned bolder.
The mere presence of a large number of police and military in the streets shows how nervous the Kremlin is about any deviation in the image of Putin, who is portrayed in the state media almost as a divine dispensation from the supreme leader, the journalists of the release note.
But is Navalny really a threat to the Putin government? – the authors of the publication ask the question. A November 2020 poll by the Levada Center showed that only 2% would name Navalny as their number one candidate if the presidential election were to take place next Sunday, while 55% of those surveyed would name Putin.
Putin likely would have won the election against Navalny if he had been allowed to run, the newspaper believes. However, Navalny is not only not allowed, his name is not even spoken. However, polls show that opposition to Putin is strong among professionals and the middle class, especially in Moscow, and suggest that around a third of the capital’s residents do not support the authorities.
Kremlin disconnected from youth – Washington Post
The post draws attention to a new generation of Russians, including popular bloggers online, who, judging by their participation in the protests, are no longer satisfied with the old Russian government.
“The lack of communication between the Kremlin and Russian influencers only underscores the problem of Putin, who is unable to establish contact outside of his antiquated conservative base with young Russian urbanites seeking to live in the modern world,” writes the Washington Post.
The unprecedented support for Navalny by various Russian celebrities and influencers, such as Yuri Dud, cannot but present a major headache for the Kremlin, believes Andrei Kolesnikov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
“The current younger generation is more radical than the previous ones. They want to live in a modernized Russia, not a traditional, old-fashioned Russia. This generation was born under Putin and still lives under Putin. For them, Navalny is more inspiring when compared Navalny as a patriotic-oriented person who returned to Russia with Putin, who is much older and much more out-dated, “believes the Russian political scientist.
Tik-Rising of Tok – Der Spiegel
Schoolchildren remove Putin portraits from walls, teenagers pose at the presidential residence – with these videos, Navalny supporters are gaining millions of views on TikTok and mobilizing people to protest.
“Will the Kremlin find itself on the Internet in a defensive position?” Asks the German magazine Der Spiegel.
After the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the publication of his new expository film, TikTok was filled with a video about Navalny. They garnered around 800 million views, the hashtags # freedomNavalny and # January 23 were only viewed around 300 million times.
You can find funny videos using hashtags: for example, how a young Russian woman explains what to say in English and, most importantly, what the correct pronunciation must be to impersonate an American if she is stopped by the security forces. This video has been enjoyed by more than half a million users.
EPA
Protests in Russia
But there are also serious publications: calls to go out into the streets, to protest against the illegality, according to lawyers, the arrest of Navalny; It calls to not be silent anymore, not to be afraid. The message that Navalny repeated several times after his return to Russia.
“For a long time, TikTok in Russia was primarily an entertainment application, but now, in a few days, it has become a place of political struggle,” the publication notes.
The battle is for influence and opinions, and the situation seems less favorable for the Kremlin. The hashtag # against Navalny now has only about 43 million views, #VladimirPutin – 180 million.
Recently, pro-Kremlin bloggers have been vigorously publishing posts in which they sometimes criticized Navalny with almost identical wording. Reports spread on social media that 150 thousand rubles were paid for negative videos about Navalny.
Echo of Belarus – Financial Times
British edition compares protests in Russia and Belarus
“The rally, which brought together some 40,000 people in Moscow and thousands more in 110 other cities across the country, didn’t just know Minsk: a sudden surge of anti-government sentiment just a few minutes’ walk from the Kremlin put Russia in the same situation as Lukashenko, “the article says.
According to Alexei Zakharov, who led the monitoring group volunteers in 359 interviews in Moscow, 42% of those attending the rally had never participated in a protest action before, and almost half of them were women.
“One thing Belarus has in common is that, as you can see, young people are taking to the streets and that gives a burst of energy and enthusiasm,” said Philip Warman, managing director of GPW, a political risk firm. it no longer matters, and this is slowly undermining the collective national readiness for the status quo, nostalgia and stability. “
