Anti-government protesters have gathered in 80 Russian cities to support jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Police detained over 262 people at the rallies which took place on Vladimir Putin's 65th birthday.
Image: Reuters/A. Vaganov
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Navalny supporters took to the streets of Saint Petersburg and other Russian cities on Saturday, calling for the jailed opposition leader to be allowed to run for president in 2018.
Witnesses reported seeing scuffles with the police and security forces using tear gas at the central event in Saint Petersburg. The rally gathered some 2,000 people, with smaller rallies held in Moscow and scores of other cities across the country.
DW's Emily Sherwin says Saint Petersburg police hauled off protesters from the scene in buses.
Anti-riot police [are] trying to encircle protesters, DW producer Katja Kuznetsova tweeted from the scene.
Russian pro-opposition activists say a total of 262 people were arrested across Russia. The rallies, which used the motto "for Navalny," drew notably smaller crowds on Saturday compared to earlier anti-government demonstrations in June.
The opposition leader himself was not able to attend, as he was sentenced to 20 days in prison on Monday.The charge, according to the Moscow court, is his repeated planning of unauthorized demonstrations against Putin.
Navalny has also been barred from running for president in 2018 over an embezzlement charge. He has rejected it as politically motivated.
The Saturday protests were scheduled to mark the 65th birthday of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with protesters in Moscow and his native Saint Petersburg chanting "Russia without Putin" and "Putin, retire."
Putin has ruled Russia for 18 years and is widely expected to win another six-year-term in 2018.
Speaking from his jail cell this week, Navalny likened life under Putin's government to eating turnip. "If we do nothing, they will be feeding us this damn turnip for the rest of our lives. And our children too," he said.
Russian police have raided Navalny's campaign offices in Moscow and several other cities in the past few days.
Navalny has said Putin's administration has fed Russians with "damn turnip"Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Navalny Campaign/E. Feldman
Challenging the president
Navalny has said he wants to challenge Putin in Russia's presidential election in 2018. The president has not officially said whether he will run for another six-year term, but many expect he will.
Russian authorities have said that Navalny cannot compete in next year's election because he is serving a suspended sentence for fraud.
Navalny's allies have released a video in which the celebrated Russian film director Andrei Zvyagintsev criticized the 2018 vote. "We are asked to choose one out of one," he said, alluding to accusations that the government will ensure a victory for the incumbent president. "It's just revolting watching this spectacle."
Putin has been in power since taking over the presidency from Boris Yeltsin in 1999Image: picture alliance/AP Images
Putin's long reign
Putin, a former Soviet spy, was first elected to the Russian presidency in 2000 after becoming caretaker president following the resignation of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, in 1999.
Putin was reelected to another four-year term in 2004 and, after spending four years as prime minister, was reelected again as president in 2012.
Navalny became a prominent figure in the Russian opposition movement after he helped organize massive anti-government protests in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. Opposition critics had claimed that a previous parliamentary election had been rigged.
Putin, who will turn 65 on Saturday, is set to spend his birthday with his family and attend a meeting of Russia's security council, a Kremlin spokesman said.
amp/tj (AFP, dpa)
Who is Alexei Navalny?
Alexei Navalny is one of Russia's most prominent opposition leaders, having spearheaded protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has been imprisoned in Russia since 2021.
Image: Imago Images/Itar-Tass/S. Fadeichev
Face of Russia's opposition
The lawyer-turned-political campaigner has been among the most prominent figures of Russia's opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Navalny came to prominence in 2008, when his blog exposing malpractice in Russian politics and among the country's major state-owned companies came to public attention. Revelations published on his blog even led to resignations, a rarity in Russian politics.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/V. Sharifulin
Disputed parliamentary elections
In 2011 Navalny was arrested for the first time. He ended up spending 15 days in prison for his role at a rally outside the State Duma in Moscow. A recent parliamentary election victory for Putin's United Russia had been marred by instances of ballot stuffing, reported by demonstrators on social media. Upon his release, Navalny pledged to continue the protest movement.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Stenin
Second jail term
After being reelected president in 2012, Putin ordered Russia's Investigative Committee to launch a criminal inquiry into Navalny's past. The following year the campaigner was charged and sentenced again, this time for five years, for alleged embezzlement in the city of Kirov. However, he was released the following day pending affirmation from a higher court. The sentence was later suspended.
Image: Reuters
Anti-Kremlin platform grows
Despite being embroiled in legal troubles, Navalny was allowed to run in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election. A second-place finish behind Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin was seen as an overwhelming success and galvanized the Russian opposition movement.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Navalny takes to social media
His anti-Kremlin rhetoric led Navalny to be banned from appearing on Russian state-owned television. That forced him to deliver his political message over social media and his blog. His talent for public speaking, punchy use of language and humorous mockery of Putin and his loyalists mobilized a legion of young followers.
Image: Alexei Navalny/Youtube
Presidential ambitions
In December 2016, the opposition leader announced the formal start of his campaign to run for the Russian presidency in March 2018. However, repeated accusations of corruption, which his supporters say are politically motivated, ultimately barred him from running for public office.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Kudryavtsev
Moscow's biggest protests in 6 years
In February 2017, anti-corruption rallies across dozens of Russian cities led to the arrests of over 1,000 demonstrators, including Navalny. The protests, believed to have been the largest in the Russian capital since 2012, were spurred by a report published by Navalny linking Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to a property empire valued at billions of euros. Navalny was released 15 days later.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Evgeny Feldman for Alexey Navalny's campaign
Physically assaulted
Navalny was assaulted and hospitalized in April 2017 after being hit in the eye with a chemical green dye. The attack permanently damaged his right cornea. Navalny accused Russian authorities of stopping him from seeking medical treatment abroad due to the embezzlement conviction against him. He was eventually permitted by the Kremlin human rights council to travel to Spain for eye surgery.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Feldman
Repeated arrests
In 2018, Navalny was jailed for 30 days. After his release in September, he faced another 20-day stint. In April 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Russia had violated Navalny's rights by holding him under house arrest for most of 2014 during the Kirov embezzlement case.
Image: Reuters/M. Shemetov
Alleged poisoning
In July 2019, only weeks after being released from a 10-day jail sentence, Navalny was again jailed for 30 days for violating Russia's strict protest laws. The opposition leader accused Russia of poisoning him with an allergic agent while in jail.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/navalny.com
Raids and frozen assets
Using YouTube and social media, Navalny had amassed a following of millions by late December 2019. Then police raided his Anti-Corruption Foundation headquarters (pictured), detaining him in the process. His staff said officials wanted to confiscate their tech equipment. Just a few months later, in March, Navalny reported that his bank accounts and those of his family members had been frozen.
Image: Reuters/FBK Handout
A plane — and a coma
On August 20, Navalny's spokesperson announced the activist became violently ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow. The plane made an emergency landing, and Navalny was rushed to a hospital in Russia's Omsk and later evacuated to Berlin's Charite clinic (pictured). Doctors said he was in a coma. Navalny's associates claimed he had been poisoned and pointed to previous attacks on the activist.
Image: Reuters/C. Mang
Back from the brink
Navalny was taken out of the coma less than three weeks later and was said to be responsive. Not long afterwards, he was posting on Instagram, saying he was slowly regaining strength following weeks of only being "technically alive." The German government said labs in France and Sweden both confirmed that Navalny had been poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Navalny had promised to return to Russia and he did so, despite warnings that he would be arrested. He was taken into police custody shortly after arriving in Moscow. The dissident had said he was "not afraid of anything." He was ordered to spend two years and eight months in a penal colony for violating terms of his probation while recovering in Germany from his poisoning.
Image: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images
Further charges and years behind bars
Since being imprisoned in 2021, Navalny has faced even more charges and trials: in 2022, he was sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court, charges his supporters say are fabricated. Appearing via video from prison during a court hearing this spring, Navalny said he was now being charged with new alleged crimes that would further extend his time in prison.
Image: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo/picture alliance
