The Kremlin is not afraid of political rivals, but Russians "will not stand" for Ukraine-style coups, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual press conference. He accused the opposition of a lack of ideas.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Nemenov
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Addressing the nation in the marathon press conference on Thursday, Russia's Vladimir Putin said he was running for reelection in order to "improve quality of life" in the country.
Putin replied to 65 questions during the hours-long televised event, marking his first public appearance since he announced he would be running for another six-year term in 2018. Notably, the Russian leader faced off against political rival and media socialite Ksenia Sobchak, who quizzed him on dangers facing opposition politicians in Russia.
"People understand that being an opposition leader in Russia means that you would either be killed, charged with something, or something similar would happen," she said, appearing at the conference as a member of the press.
"My question is – why does this happen? Does the government fear honest competition?" she added.
Sobchak specifically mentioned opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who would likely not be allowed to run due to graft charges he claims are politically motivated.
At an annual press conference Vladimir Putin responds to a question about possible opponents in the upcoming presidential elections.
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Navalny as a 'Russian edition' of Saakashvili
In response, Putin likened Navalny to former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, implying that the Russian politician could cause unrest similar to Saakashvili's protest movement in Ukraine. The Russian president avoided mentioning Navalny by name, referring to him as "the persons you mentioned" instead.
"The one you mentioned is just a Russian edition of Saakashvili," he said. "Do you want those 'Saakashvilis' to destabilize the country? Do you want us to experience a string of 'Maidans'?" Putin added, referring to the Ukraine revolution that led to a pro-Western government in Kyiv.
"Do you want to have coup attempts? We have already been through that," he told Sobchek. "I believe that the absolute, overwhelming majority of Russian citizens does not want that and will not stand for it," Putin said to the applause of journalists gathered in the Moscow venue.
Reporters at the venue hold up placards reading 'ecology,' 'education,' and 'the Far East' to indicate the topic of their questionsImage: Getty Images/AFP/A. Druzhinin
Fishing for gold
Returning to the issue raised by Sobchak on the Kremlin fearing competition, Putin said "the government does not fear and has never feared anyone." In an apparent jab at Navalny's graft charges, Putin also invoked the rise of Russian tycoons after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
"The authorities should not be like a bearded man who is lazily picking cabbage from his beard and looks on as the state is turning into a muddied pond where the tycoons are fishing for goldfish, the way it was here in the 1990s and the way it is right now in Ukraine," he said, employing unusual imagery to illustrate the influence of oligarchs in Eastern Europe.
Making 'noise' not enough
In a separate response, Putin said it was not enough for his opponents to "make noise at city squares or sit around talking about the 'anti-people regime'" and that they should instead make concrete suggestions to improve the situation.
Putin also said people in Russia had a right to be dissatisfied with the way things are in the country as the authorities could have achieved more results.
'However, when they look at the proposition put forward by the opposition […] major doubts appear," Putin said. "It would be very simple for me to say that it wasn't my job to bring up competitors to myself, but I should also tell you that I think that our political environment […] needs to be competitive."
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
