Alexei Navalny’s allies plan for further protests on the streets

Alexei Navalny’s team continues to operate despite pressure. Photo: Reuters

Roland Oliphant

March 24 2021 02:38 AM

It would have been easy to retreat with their leader in prison, his deputies under house arrest and their offices being attacked with smoke grenades.

But allies of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny have vowed to continue their campaign to evict Vladimir Putin from the Kremlin, calling for a new round of street protests.

Maria Pevchikh, the head of investigations at Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Leonid Volkov, his political chief of staff, and Ivan Zhdanov, his lawyer, jointly launched an online petition yesterday demanding his release. The trio said in a video that they would call nationwide street demonstrations as soon as the petition reached 500,000 signatures.

“Navalny is the biggest problem of Putin’s regime. And anyone who is opposed to the regime should be making the same demand: freedom for Alexei Navalny,” they said.

The threat to mobilise so many people is a key test of the resilience of the small but effective political machine that Mr Navalny has built up over the past decade.

Can team Navalny continue to operate as a political force while its charismatic leader is in jail? And can it survive what many believe is a Kremlin decision to finally shut them down for good?

“It is the biggest crackdown we have ever faced, and they are pushing on every front at once,” said Ms Pevchikh, a London School of Economics graduate. “The Kremlin wants us to shut down. They have an assumption that we are not capable of running our organisation without Alexei. This assumption is wrong,” she added.

Since Mr Navalny was arrested on his return to Russia in January, 10 opposition figures have been placed under house arrest pending investigations into allegations that they broke the law by urging Muscovites to violate coronavirus measures at unsanctioned rallies. They include Lyubov Sobol, an anti-corruption lawyer considered to be the movement’s most electable politician after Mr Navalny.