Dear CCI Friends,
Navalny’s latest efforts to get attention by demonizing Putin have put him in the spotlight again. It is still not known how or where the poisoning occurred or what the poison was. The report from Germany said that it was Novichok, however, when Russian scientists requested samples, the Germans refused to send them. Strange! Latest evidence I saw showed a lot of different substances found in Navalny’s chemistry but no Novichok. Still the whole story made for lots of publicity on both sides of the ocean.
Many in the U.S. are eager to condemn Putin and Russia. Navalny seems to be in search of ways to denigrate Putin. So these two factors are destined to make news periodically.
Russia is not a perfect country, the United States is not a perfect country. Will we ever better ourselves by condemning each other? I think not. Better we spend our time trying to get to know each others’ cultures rather than antagonizing each other.
I contacted a few Russians about Navalny’s poisoning, his trip to Germany, and the protests in his defense. The following are a few of our friends’ varied responses. It is winter, Covid is still active in Russia. They too have been on lockdown in recent weeks. This may account for some of their current dissatisfactions, the same as many here in the U.S.
Please read to the end. The longest answer is from Siberia which gives a wide and valuable assessment.
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Dear Sharon,
From Moscow: My estimate is some 10 thousand people maybe slightly more. HOWEVER about half came for reasons other than Navalny. There was no obvious organising force, one young man tried to hand “extradite Navalny” slogan from a lamppost. The police was very friendly, female police officers were handing out masks, and for the first hour or so the crowd was very friendly. It is difficult to say who started the violence, but after one hour young trained men appeared in the crowd and started to provoke the police. At the same time as if by a magic wand professional press appeared from nowhere and started to photograph the violence.
Generally police worked much more professionally and I would say they were more restrained and measured than in 2011, 2013 or 2017.
However at some point they started to pick these young men from the crowd who tried to protect them, which lead to more violence. At this point WPOs disappeared and most of detentions happened.
I guesstimate is that there might be one or two more marches of similar or smaller size which will peter out by mid February.
By which time Navalny’s EURO fans will push through more sanctions…..
Andrei K.
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Navalny’s mimics remind me of Yeltsin in his younger years, when he was the party boss of Moscow. The same semi-smirk all the time and a condescendingly arrogant expression in his eyes when he looks at people. If his supporters could really get millions behind them, they would have a legal rally at some stadium in Luzhniki or at another location far from the crammed city center and the Kremlin. We did it in 1989-1990, and it was really impressive and not dangerous for anyone. But Navalny’s people only had 4.000 (mostly adolescents) supporters for a city of 12 million people. So, one out of 3000 Muscivites came to this rally. Even if they had 40.000, as the organizers say, it would make it one out of 300 Muscovites. So, the brave moved the adolescents to a tiny Pushkin square not far from the Kremlin, they blocked Moscow’s main streets because of the lack of space and there was a skirmish with police. This is all these Non-Russian-Government-Organizations wanted. And all they can do.
That’ll show’em. But for BBC this is top news, of course… Putin digs deeper into his bunker and other senseless crap – one can feel shame for the world, if indeed this is a “world” service. The world is in a deep zhopa with this kind of service.
Dmitri Babich, Journalist, Moscow
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Dear Sharon!
The number of those who protested is incomparably lower than, say, in George Floyd protests. Overwhelming majority of my compatriots understand that Navalny is a provocateur, not a real opposition figure. Opposition and criticism are healthy, Navalny is not a demon like Trotsky.
Let me know if you need any help with visa etc.
Kind regards,
Alexander K
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Dear Sharon,
I can’t figure out why, but I always seem to be head over ears involved in all kinds of work I never asked or looked for! I’d better not go into the details or I might start feeling so sorry for myself – and I hate this feeling!
1. I’ll be happy to hear from you when you, after making a safe journey, find your way to St.Pete at long last! Let’s try and arrange a Zoom meeting among you, Volodya and me!
2. We also saw a demonstration of the protesters, which is the most disgusting, covered themselves with children and tried to attack law enforcement officers. My understanding is the latter were forbidden to hurt anyone. Everyone is fully aware that it was pure provocation.
3. The stats were reported as follows: about 1000 protesters came to the demonstration, and two officers were severely beaten and hospitalized.
4. Oh, I fervently hope that this all pervading madness will dissipate and disappear soon!
5. I also plan to have a shot of Sputnik V soon.
Zhenya
Vladivostok
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Now a little bit about the rallies on January 23. I live in Bryansk. Earlier I wrote to you that this is a region where many people over the age of 35 dream of returning the USSR and the Communist Party. Now we have the governor of the region (the head of the Bryansk region), who absolutely prohibits any political struggle. I live in the city center and work with school and university principals. Therefore, school principals informed me that every school, college and university was required to work with students on January 23 (Saturday) on the most important programs (Olympiads, exams, sports competitions)in 9a.m. – 4 p.m. This was done so that children and young people could not take part in the rallies. The rally in Bryansk ball is scheduled for 2 p.m. About 50 people (total!) gathered on Lenin Square. They were without posters, organizers and did not really understand what to do. The police gave them the opportunity to move along the main street. The number of people increased slightly while driving. I live in Revolution Square. Here, about 150 people participated in the rally. All participants spoke about corruption and the desire for change. But in our region is absolutely not like and do not respect the Bulk, as it advocates for non-traditional marriages. This is unacceptable for Bryansk. No organization (party, state or non-state) participated! Only natural persons. Most people: young people 14-25 years old, who constantly photographed themselves and sent photos to the Network. After this rally, which lasted 10 minutes and different people spoke from their seats without a loudspeaker, the police carefully pushed people to continue along this central street in the direction of the Mound of Immortality. On the Mound of Immortality on this day, regional sports competitions and concerts were held. People walked only 5 km. It was raining, deep snow was melting underfoot, and people were walking along the pedestrian road. And already at 4 p.m. people began to disperse. That is, the rally and the movement took 2 hours, the number of people was 150 people. Unfortunately, the police began to check the documents of people at the moment when they began to disperse. The police detained 39 people who were without a medical mask and passport. But most of the people were released 2 hours after the various protocols were drawn up. We don’t know how many people remain in police custody, but these are the organizers and the people who resisted the police.
I saw this from my window and I know it from people’s stories.
I hope that 2021 will be much better than 2020!
I wish you all the best!
Luda
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That said, from my perch here in Moscow and I can’t say the protests were all that significant. I know the protests are probably a big story in the United States right now. Unfortunately, our media loves to hype unrest in Russia and anti-Putinism.
The vast majority of my friends were apathetic or against the protests. Obviously though, I did have friends who participated and are supportive of Navalny. But today the mood is as if everyone has already forgotten about it and moved on.
I assume there will be more protests, but I really see it fizzling out and people moving on with their lives. There is frustration here over the economy, but I think reasonable people understand that the number one source for the sluggish growth is the economic war being waged on Russia. We see it now with the Nordstrom 2 pipeline being antagonized with new sanctions and there’s only so much that the Putin administration to hedge against the myriad of sanctions.
I can also say that among my friends who support Navalny, it’s not necessarily that they support him personally but rather they just want a change for the sake of change. Many people I know find Navalny to be repugnant for his xenophobic views towards Muslims and immigrants from Central Asia. I personally despise his rhetoric on immigration and towards the migrant workers who are here doing honest work and fueling the Russian economy. I think this flaw in Navalny’s character is thankfully a reason that he hasn’t drawn more support.
All the best,
H. Cawood
A young American living in Russia
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From Siberia:
Dear Sharon,
Great to hear from you. You MUST find a way to get to the Biden people so they stop their misguided, dangerous aggression towards Russia. Anything I can do to help, I will. I just finished this piece on the Navalny protests to provide some reality. It will be in JRL but here it is for you. Please share as you see fit.
https://echosiberia.medium.com/a-good-day-for-russia-the-navalny-protests-e7e437b5cda2
I also think Sam Green’s piece is worth a read: https://moscowonthames.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/back-to-square-one/
I would love to see you here. We have been in Altai most of the time since COVID since my husband is working remotely. It was been great to be living in the village and working with my neighbors to battle the corrupt local government.
Stay healthy. I am ready for the vaccine but since it is only guaranteed to last 6 months, I am thinking I should wait until it is more realistic for me to travel to the US, maybe September which means vaccine in April, May. That said I am getting tired of being slightly worried all the time so I may just go and get it. I think I would prefer EpiVacCorona, the Novosibirsk Vector vaccine. But, will see what I have access to when I am ready.
Stay in touch, serious days ahead.
Sarah Lindemann-Komarova