Alexei Navalny: Russia's Opposition Leader behind Bars

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (AP)
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (AP)
TT
20

Alexei Navalny: Russia's Opposition Leader behind Bars

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (AP)
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (AP)

Russia gives few glimpses nowadays of Alexei Navalny, an opposition icon who leveraged social media and fatigue with the Kremlin to rise to stardom before being poisoned and jailed.

He now only appears in grainy videos from court hearings at his maximum-security prison -- occasions he has used to slam the Kremlin for what he sees as its latest folly: attacking Ukraine, said AFP.

"(Russia) is floundering in a pool of either mud or blood, with broken bones, with a poor and robbed population, and around it lie tens of thousands of people killed in the most stupid and senseless war of the 21st century," Navalny said at his last hearing in July.

The most prominent Kremlin critic inside Russia over the last decade, 47-year-old Navalny is serving a nine-year prison sentence near Moscow on embezzlement charges he and his allies contest.

But authorities on Friday are expected to add 20 years to his term for extremism, building on a sweeping clampdown on any dissent since launching large-scale hostilities in Ukraine in 2022.

Navalny's criticism of the military intervention is just the latest chapter of his long and dramatic fight against ruling elites and his activism has taken many forms.

- 'I am not afraid' -

He has campaigned across the country to be president, published corruption investigations that embarrassed the Kremlin and rallied massive crowds onto Russia's streets.

His message -- pumped to fans through glitzy social media content -- contrasts dramatically to that of Vladimir Putin, a Soviet-styled, 70-year-old former KGB agent who has ruled without compromise for over 20 years.

Navalny returned to Russia from Germany in early 2021 after recuperating from a near-fatal poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.

His return to Russia despite facing jail put him on a collision course with Putin, after Navalny blamed the poisoning attack in Siberia on the Kremlin.

"I'm not afraid and I call on you not to be afraid," he said in an appeal to supporters as he landed in Moscow, moments before being detained on charges linked to an old fraud conviction.

His arrest spurred some of the largest demonstrations Russia had seen in decades, and thousands were detained at rallies nationwide calling for his release.

- Putin 'fears me' -

Navalny countered with the release of "Putin's Palace," an investigation into a lavish Black Sea mansion that his team claimed was gifted to Putin through corruption.

The expose forced a rare denial from Putin, who quipped that if his security services had really been behind the poisoning, they would have finished the job.

While Navalny traffics confidently in memes, Putin is known both for not using the internet and asking a teenager who wanted him to follow his YouTube channel: "What should I sign?"

A similar Navalny corruption video targeting then prime minister Dmitry Medvedev spurred large demonstrations in 2017, with protesters carrying rubber ducks which became a symbol of the protests.

Ahead of a presidential election in 2018, Navalny toured cities across the country to drum up support but was barred from running because of the old fraud charge.

"(Putin) fears me and he fears the people I represent," he told AFP at the time.

Before that he had challenged Sergei Sobyanin to become Moscow mayor and forced a runoff.

- 'Crooks and thieves' -

At rallies and in courtrooms, Navalny is a convincing public speaker and rallied protesters around home-grown slogans like "the party of crooks and thieves" to slam the ruling United Russia party.

But he has been tainted by an early foray into far-right nationalism, and a pro-gun video from 2007 routinely resurfaces in which he compares people from the ex-Soviet South Caucasus region to cockroaches.

Navalny also remains a fringe figure for a large portion of Russian society, who back the Kremlin's official portrayal of him as a Western stooge and convicted criminal.

Before he was sentenced in February 2020, he had become such a thorn in the Kremlin's side that Putin refused to pronounce his name in public. His anti-corruption group was shuttered and his top allies are either imprisoned or in exile.

- 'Cannot shut my mouth' -

Navalny's team says he has been harassed in prison and repeatedly moved to a punitive solitary confinement cell.

He says guards have subjected him and other inmates to "torture by Putin", making them listen to the president's speeches.

Still Navalny is upbeat and sardonic on social media accounts curated by aides.

The lawyer by training has fought for basic rights and taken prison officials to court. He has also tormented them, filing formal requests for a kimono and a balalaika -- a traditional musical instrument -- and to be allowed to keep a kangaroo.

"You cannot shut my mouth," he declared.



Humanitarian Needs Remain Pressing a Month After Myanmar’s Deadly Quake 

Volunteers help to clear collapsed buildings after one month of the strong earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)
Volunteers help to clear collapsed buildings after one month of the strong earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)
TT
20

Humanitarian Needs Remain Pressing a Month After Myanmar’s Deadly Quake 

Volunteers help to clear collapsed buildings after one month of the strong earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)
Volunteers help to clear collapsed buildings after one month of the strong earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP)

The humanitarian needs of hundreds of thousands of survivors remain desperately pressing a month after Myanmar’s deadly earthquake, compounded by airstrikes that the military government is reportedly carrying out despite ceasefires meant to aid relief efforts during the country’s civil war.

The 7.7 magnitude March 28 quake hit a wide swath of the country, causing significant damage to six regions and states, including the capital, Naypyitaw. Myanmar’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology reported Monday there had been 157 aftershocks after the big quake, ranging in magnitude from 2.8 to 7.5.

State-run MRTV television reported on Sunday the quake’s death toll had reached 3,769, with 5,106 people injured and 107 still missing. The earthquake left many areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaged roads and bridges, in addition to tens of thousands of buildings.

In some quake-hit areas, bereaved relatives and friends of the disaster’s victims on Monday offered donations to monks, a Buddhist tradition to transfer merit and blessings to the deceased.

A report released Monday by the Myanmar Witness project of the London-based Centre for Information Resilience said the group had documented 80 post-quake airstrikes by the military across multiple regions, including 65 after the army declared its unilateral ceasefire on April 2, following similar declarations by its battlefield foes.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army’s 2021 takeover ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which led to nationwide peaceful protests that escalated into armed resistance, uniting pro-democracy activists and ethnic minority guerrilla groups that have long been fighting for autonomy

“Myanmar’s population was already on its knees after years of SAC aggression and armed conflict,” said Myanmar Witness project director Robert Dolan, referring to the military’s ruling State Administration Council. “The layers of suffering are hard to comprehend — we’ve seen regions wrecked by war and then the earthquake, only to sustain further damage from continued airstrikes.”

The shadow National Unity Government, the main opposition group coordinating resistance to military rule, said Saturday in a statement that the post-quake bombings “have primarily targeted civilian areas — markets, residential zones, Buddhist monasteries, and Christian churches — resulting in the deaths of over 200 civilians, including at least 24 children, from March 28 to April 19, 2025.”

The military government hasn’t directly commented on the airstrikes, but when it extended its ceasefire on April 22, it reserved the right to respond as “necessary” to certain activities by the resistance forces.

Independent evaluation of most war claims by either side is impossible, due to the military’s restrictions on reporting and the remoteness of where many incidents take place.

Dire living conditions

UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations, meanwhile, stress that living conditions remain dire for earthquake survivors. They note that even before the earthquake, the civil war had displaced more than 3 million people and left nearly 20 million in need.

“Critical needs remain for safe shelter, clean water and sanitation, physical and mental health care, comprehensive protection services and cash assistance,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday in its latest situation report.

Many who lost their homes are still in makeshift tents with little to protect them from pre-monsoon storms ahead of the months-long rainy season, which normally begins in May, humanitarian services say.

“The delay in removing earthquake debris is increasing the risk of vector-borne diseases, as stagnant water and poor sanitation create breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects,” said the UN report. “Limited access to safe drinking water and clean sanitation poses a significant threat of waterborne diseases, compounded by the absence of rapid diagnostic tests, which delays the detection of potential outbreaks."

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a report released Monday that displaced people were living outdoors in temperatures of up to forty degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with an overwhelming fear of further aftershocks.

Reconstruction starts In Naypyitaw, the damaged buildings of the labor and foreign ministries have been demolished for new construction, said a resident who asked not to be named for security reasons. Debris at markets and schools has been cleaned by municipal workers, while thousands of people, who lost their homes, were still living under tarpaulin sheets, he said.

He said that he was told that the departments and offices of several ministries will be temporarily relocated to Yangon, the country’s former capital and largest city, until their offices can be rebuilt.