As the main Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny awaits his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, thousands of people gathered in freezing cities to protest the prison sentence against the Kremlin critic.
As Russian citizens from Moscow marched to icy Siberian cities in a rare protest, Navalny’s allies called on the Biden government to sanction individuals who ‘actively participate in the repression and corruption of Putin’s regime’.
In an open letter to President Biden, the close ally and executive director of Navalny of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Vladimir Ashurkov, 35 individuals are divided into three groups: oligarchs aligned with Putin, human rights violators and those involved. is at the prosecution of Navalny.
People attend a protest against the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday, January 31, 2021.
(AP)
“Sanctions against these individuals – the freezing of their assets, the impediment to entering the US and doing business with US companies – would have a significant cost to their actions and serve as a deterrent to other members of the political and “business elite. It would be a powerful way to encourage change,” the letter reads.
Ashurkov, who has worked with Navalny for the past ten years, says sanctions against these individuals are important for retaliation and deterrence of human rights violators. “Western countries have encouraged Putin to be more assertive. If the US had been less tolerant of corruption ten, 15 years ago and hindered the flow of dirty money from Russia to the West, Putin would not be bold. ‘enough to annex Crimea and sponsor the separatists in eastern Ukraine, something that has led to the deaths of more than 12,000 people over the past six years,’ Ashurkov said.
Navalny survived poisoning last summer by nerve agent “Novichok” – a charge denied by the Russian government. He was arrested at Moscow airport on January 17 upon his arrival from Germany, where he underwent intensive treatment for the poisoning.
He is now being sentenced to three and a half years in prison for “violating the terms of a suspended sentence in 2014 in a case of embezzlement”, the case which the European Court of Human Rights rules as ‘arbitrary and apparently unreasonable’ has.
Calls for the release of Navalny echoed from the icy streets of Russia to European capitals. According to a White House reading, the poisoning of Navalny – along with Ukraine’s sovereignty and interference in the United States election in 2020 – was one of the key issues discussed during a January 26 call between Presidents Biden and Putin. . Navalny, however, was not mentioned at all in a read-out Kremlin version.
Twice this week, hundreds of thousands of prisoners protested in Navalny, Russia, including in Yakutia, where it is -50 C (-58 F). According to the local monitoring group OVD-Info, riot police detained more than 4,000 protesters during the two protests, which Vladimir Putin compared to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken condemned the use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists by the Russian authorities, saying: “We renew our call on Russia to release those detained for exercising their human rights. , including Aleksey Navalny. ‘
WHAT HAPPENS IN RUSSIA?
In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky said Putin was scared.
“I have never seen Putin lose it and in self-defense,” Khodorkovsky said via Zoom of London.
The former oil tycoon is no stranger to the Russian prison system. He spent a decade in custody. Khodorkovsky praises Navalny for an “incredible documentary that has severely damaged Putin’s reputation.” The documentary he refers to? “Putin’s Palace. History of the World’s Largest Bribe.” The film allegedly describes Putin’s private residence on the Black Sea, which includes a casino, a movie theater, an underground hockey rink and a water pipe lounge in a large mansion. Putin has denied ownership of the $ 1.35 billion property.
From where Khodorkovsky stands, Putin has “not much choice” on what to do next. “He can not allow himself to watch Navalny wipes. Because of his own environment – circles of control – they will think he is weak, they will no longer see a man they used to serve” and according to Khodorkovsky, they will loyalty to Putin diminishes: “Putin can not make it happen, so he captured Navalny”.
In the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, Russia is 129 among 180 countries, and according to recent approval ratings by Russia’s influential Levada center, 47% of Russians generally do not approve of the Russian government’s actions. Other 2% have no answer and 51% vote well of them.
Khodorkovsky recalls another poll last March when the Russian Duma approved a law on constitutional amendments, including an amendment on the restoration of presidential conditions, which allows Vladimir Putin to run in the presidential election after the end of his current term. term. Asked whether they would like Vladimir Putin after the end of his current presidential term in 2024 or the president of Russia, 40% of Russians said they “would not want to” and an additional 14 percent said that it was “difficult to say”.
After twenty years as Russia’s leader and declining ratings, Khodorkovsky says, Putin is afraid that people will come to the streets because he is not aware of how to deal with such a scenario.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Aleksey Navalny’s sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday. Khodorkovsky believes that releasing Navalny Putin’s leadership from the groups he relies on will further weaken it.
“On the other hand, he is afraid of Western sanctions, including individual sanctions, because sanctions depend on his entire environment, individuals and families whose lives and well-being in the West depend on their ties with Putin,” Khodorkovsky therefore supports. corrupt individuals. , “thieves”, not the Russian economy.
Khodorkovsky does not see a political will of sanctions in Europe, but hopes that Biden’s government will have ‘smart political behavior’ and that it will show leadership towards Europe and the Euro-Atlantic world. “It happened under President Reagan, it can happen now,” he asked before ending the interview.