From the editor
Alexei Navalny’s decision to return to Russia in the days before Joe Biden’s inauguration further emphasises to Russians that presidents can be removed and more compassionate ones may replace them. Vladimir Putin’s argument is that political turbulence leads to events such as the storming of the Capitol. Russia can only remain calm if he stays in power for the rest of his life. Navalny was even asked by a reporter on the airport bus in Moscow if he saw himself as Lenin returning from exile to St. Petersburg’s Finland Station. Was his goal to spark a revolution? The answer through his mask was inaudible but subsequent events suggest this isn’t far off the mark.
Putin first tried to prevent Navalny’s arrival by warning him that he would be arrested and then diverting his plane from Vnukovo, where supporters were violently arrested by brigades of riot police, to Sheremetyevo at the last minute – endangering other planes that also had to divert and were low on fuel. Vnukovo was shut down with the excuse that there was a broken snow plough on the runway. Navalny and his wife Yulia were then greeted at passport control by police officers, who took him away to a police station in Khimki outside Moscow. The following morning a “trial” was hastily arranged in the police station itself so that a judge could order Navalny to be jailed pending more hearings.
But Navalny had another surprise in store. Before leaving for Russia he had made a nearly two-hour long video called “Putin’s Palace. History of World’s Largest Bribe” (with English subtitles). The video has already had nearly 54 million views. Navalny went to Dresden to trace how Putin formed a crime syndicate with his former KGB colleagues with whom he was stationed there and went on to work with them to build possibly the world’s most expensive palace outside Gelendzhik on the Black Sea. Putin originally intended to move into the palace when his second term as president ended in 2008, but he just stayed in power – first behind the scenes as prime minister, then openly as president again – until today. Meanwhile the palace is unfinished because its entire interior is being replaced due to mould. It is full of expensive Italian furniture and includes a casino, swimming pool and pole-dancing stage. Putin’s garish four-poster bed is monstrous, and the golden eagles on the gates suggest he really believes he’s a tsar.
Navalny used photographs of Putin’s palace to create 3D renderings of the interior
Navalny and his team have called for Russians to come out on the streets to protest tomorrow, and the hashtag #23January has gone viral on social media, including TikTok, where children and teenagers are posting videos of themselves replacing portraits of Putin on the walls of schools with portraits of Navalny, and finding funny ways to say they’re going to protest. Celebrities, including former Russian national football team captain Igor Denisov and former tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov, have also demanded Navalny’s release. Russian authorities are scrambling to warn people that they can be arrested for calling for protests, and already activists around the country have been detained. There is little doubt that people will come out in relatively large numbers. But will they sustain the protest after tomorrow and try to force real change? It is about time.
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Navalny foundation’s cameraman jailed
Pavel Zelensky, a cameraman working for Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, has been jailed ahead of trial on a charge of extremism for tweeting that the government deserved to face consequences for the self-immolation of journalist Irina Slavina in Nizhny Novgorod last October. Slavina burned herself to death outside the city’s police headquarters after suffering prolonged harassment over her investigative articles. She wrote on Facebook that the Russian Federation should be blamed for her death. Zelensky faces up to five years in prison. He suffered a head injury when he was detained.
Moscow student gets six-year sentence
A Moscow court has sentenced 25-year-old postgraduate mathematics student Azat Miftakhov to six years in prison for allegedly setting fire to a United Russia office in 2018, injuring no one. Miftakhov was arrested in early 2019 and says that he was tortured while in custody. His lawyers say he was singled out by authorities for his anarchist beliefs and support for political prisoners. A large crowd of supporters gathered outside the court for the verdict, and some were detained, while others went straight to Khimki afterwards where Navalny was being sent into custody at the same time.
Another Russian MP dies from virus
MP from the United Russia Party Nikolai Antoshkin has died from coronavirus at the age of 78. Previously two MPs from the Communist Party died from the virus. Antoshkin was a Soviet Air Force commander and led the helicopter operation to drop sand on the crater of the Chernobyl reactor after the disaster in April 1986. Meanwhile the prime minister of occupied Abkhazia, 68-year-old Alexander Ankvab, has been placed on a ventilator in a Moscow hospital due to Covid.
Court bans Death Note and other anime
A St. Petersburg court has scrutinised scenes from Japanese anime programmes and decided to ban four of them in Russia: Death Note, Tokyo Ghoul, Elfen Lied and Inuyashiki. The court ruled that they promote violence and suicide, and also raised questions about hints of homosexuality. In Russia any form of positive message about homosexuality aimed at minors is considered prohibited “propaganda”. In the popular Death Note series the finders of a notebook belonging to shinigami spirits are able to kill people by writing their names in it.
Khabarovsk journalist fined
Journalist Dmitri Timoshenko from the publication Arsenyevskiye Vesti has served a five-day jail sentence in Khabarovsk and been given four separate fines totalling 400,000 roubles ($5,400) for covering the ongoing protests in the city, after being detained on Jan. 16. The protests started after the region’s then-governor Sergei Furgal was arrested in July last year. People came out every day demanding his return, but he remains in prison in Moscow. Freezing temperatures have deterred protesters lately but the city may see a large turnout for tomorrow’s protest in support of Navalny.
Sanctioned Russian-Syrian citizens linked to Beirut blast
Three Russian-Syrian dual citizens who have been sanctioned by the United States for their support for President Bashar al-Assad are linked to a company that shipped the ammonium nitrate to Beirut that was the cause of a devastating explosion last August, the Guardian has reported. George Haswani, Mudalal Khuri and his brother Imad are associated with the London address of Savaro Ltd. Mudalal Khuri was accused by the US Treasury of attempting to source ammonium nitrate months before the Russian freighter Rhosus docked in Beirut in 2013 after leaving from Georgia. It was thought that the ship was headed for Mozambique, but the new investigation suggests the ammonium nitrate was sent to Beirut for subsequent use by Assad in weapons. The explosion of the chemicals, which were poorly stored, killed more than 200 people.