Protests in Russia: A monarch vs. a superhero

On Saturday, Jan. 23, hundreds of thousands of exasperated citizens flooded the streets of at least 123 Russian cities, rallying in support of the detained opposition leader Alexey Navalny. A protest of unprecedented magnitude swept the country, emerging as the most extensive demonstration in Russia's modern history. For the first time in years, marches took place beyond Moscow and Saint Petersburg. According to the platform Open Media, the estimated number of people drawn to the "Freedom to Navalny!" rallies ranges between 110,000 to 160,000 across the state, with the largest assembly of up to 40,000 in Moscow, the Russian capital. The authorities did not sanction the marches, and official warnings were made promising arrests. Nonetheless, the boiling point has been reached. A historical record was set in the total count of detentions of Jan. 23, surpassing the previous maximum of 1800 arrests made in 2017 during protests also backing Mr. Navalny, exceeding 4000 this year, as reported by OVD-Info.

Over the last decade, Alexey Navalny has turned into the symbol of Kremlin opposition, embodying dissent and resistance to the bitter realities of President Putin's autocratic regime. The anti-corruption activist got a chance to experience the full spectrum of Russia's repressive machinery, political perversions and sophisticated taste. Mr. Navalny spent plenty of time in detention facilities, underwent physical attacks and beatings and had his face stained and eyesight damaged after being splashed with "brilliant green" antiseptic dye in 2017. All in all, the critic was framed and denied participation in the presidential election of 2018. For years, Russian authorities ignored Navalny, keeping the activist in ambiguity and branding him as a marginal blogger and provocateur with nefarious political endeavors and ambitions. Finally, on Aug. 20, 2020, Navalny felt acutely sick during a flight that resulted in an emergency landing. Two days after, he was transported to the German hospital of Charité. On Sept. 2, Germany's special laboratory declared that, without a doubt, medical tests had detected the deadly poison compound "Novichok." In response, Western powers proclaimed Navalny's poisoning to be an assassination attempt. Meanwhile, Russian officials laughed at these accusations and denounced the activist as a foreign agent. Navalny became He Who Must Not Be Named, as dubbed by Putin, and his name was avoided widely by the authorities and subordinate media.

On Jan. 17, after months of treatment in Germany, Navalny returned to Moscow and was immediately taken into custody at the airport's border control. The Federal Penitentiary Service requested the court to turn his suspended sentence into a prison term. In 2014, Navalny and his brother Oleg were convicted to three-and-a-half year terms on fraud and money laundering charges. The Navalny brothers denied the allegations and claimed that the case was politically motivated. Alexey received a suspended sentence while Oleg was put behind bars. In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights deemed the Russian court's judgment to be unjust. The government compensated but failed to overturn the conviction.

Following the poisoning, Mr. Navalny's popularity vastly increased. In his image, the "Freedom to Navalny!" rally was soon announced and scheduled for Jan. 23. The activist's nonprofit organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, released a two-hour film on Jan. 19, entitled “Putin’s palace. History of the world’s largest bribe,” that exposes the spoils of President Putin’s inconceivable wealth. The YouTube video reached 100 million views in nine days. Such success is simply unheard of, and it is the most viewed content ever published in the Russian language. With a population of 148 million, this is a disaster for Vladimir's Putin reputation. Despite suspicions of the existence of Putin's residence circulating for years, Navalny's investigation genuinely struck the nation. What caused such resonance is the egregious display of riches and the audacity of the governmental higher-ups to conceal it. The cost of the palace is estimated to be more than one billion dollars. Embellished with symbols of the Russian monarchy, the opulent mansion is equipped with anything that a true tzar might need. A hookah place with a striptease pole, for example, has always been believed to be essential in the matters of governing Russia. Personal theater, expensive spa, "room for dirt" – all are must-haves! Let us not forget a private casino: it could be a little dangerous, but who doesn’t need to unwind after a long day of monarchical duties? The pathological, clinical greed of the nation's leader and his inner circle poses a climacteric conflict for every citizen of Russia: How is it possible for the president to obtain such unimaginable wealth while most of the population exists in critical poverty?

Alexey Navalny is a natural-born citizen of Russia who was stripped of his nationality, civil rights and human rights. The extent of this includes detention, thwarted legal cases and his attempted murder – to clarify, this is all very, very illegal. The problem is that Kremlin itself is the instigator of its own wrongdoings. In six months, the authorities managed to turn Navalny from a politician who repelled many by his radicality, authoritarianism and viciousness into a superhero whose return is closely monitored on all media platforms and endorsed even by those who would never wish for such a president. The tragedy is that nothing will change. Putin has clung tenaciously to the levers of power, and any concession to the masses is seen as a loss. More repressions are coming, with greater brutality and violence and blood. In Russia, this is considered to be the natural order of things. Government and power are similar to a wild beast: A beast kills its victim not because it is wicked, but because it cannot do it any other way. It is the law of nature. The catch is that the regime is exhausted. The hopelessness of rivalry between Kremlin and its opposition will legitimately lead to a catastrophe. Prediction made upon Russia’s past – here, no one wins.