The Urban Protesters Defying Putin
Russian authorities did all they could to disrupt Monday’s protests, short of a direct ban.
On Monday, TVRain, the only private television outlet in Russia whose political coverage is not guided by loyalty to the Kremlin, showed a split screen to viewers. One live shot showed President Vladimir Putin giving an annual address marking Russia Day. Other live shots showed scenes from anti-corruption protest rallies staged in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities and towns.
The rallies included crowds of mostly young people cheerfully chanting “Russia without Putin” and “Putin is a thief,” and calling for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s dismissal. Police confronted the crowds, grabbing young demonstrators, twisting their arms, and dragging them to police vans. In his speech, meanwhile, Putin praised “people’s cohesion,” “political stability,” and “consolidation of society” in Russia. When asked by reporters about the anti-corruption protesters rallying a half mile from where Putin was speaking, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, declined to comment.
The protests were initiated by Alexey Navalny, the Russian activist who for years has led an anti-corruption campaign against high-ranking officials. Navalny is a uniquely effective political figure in a country where politics was long ago cleansed of competition. Navalny’s indefatigable anti-graft campaign, his image as a man of the people with a great sense of humor, and his fearlessness in the face of perpetual government harassment and persecution—as well as attacks by vigilantes—have made him the most prominent opposition figure in Russia. Navalny’s ability to package his allegations in viral videos has made him especially popular among young, urban Russians. He is the only opposition figure in Russia capable of bringing together large groups of supporters.
Earlier this year, the Navalny-led Anti-Corruption Foundation released a documentary accusing Medvedev of corruption. The film attracted a large online audience. (So far, it has been viewed twenty-two million times.) In late March, Navalny called for a national anti-corruption rally. In many cities, authorities did not sanction the gatherings, but, contrary to expectations, large numbers of Russians attended anyway. In Moscow alone, more than a thousand protesters were detained, some beaten by the police. Navalny was sentenced to fifteen days in jail. This was the largest protest in Russia in five years, and participants were, on average, far younger than at previous rallies. The geographic breadth of the demonstrations, held in dozens of cities and towns, was also wider than during prior protests. By far the largest crowds gathered in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Navalny then called for Monday’s anti-corruption demonstrations. Pointedly organizing protests on Russia Day, he unveiled a “patriots’ plan” that sought to strip the government of its self-declared monopoly on patriotism and show that a Russian patriot does not have to be a Putin loyalist. Navalny’s message was that being a harsh critic of the Kremlin is patriotic, because critics care about making their country better. To reinforce the theme, Navalny urged protesters to carry Russian flags. Navalny called it “a peaceful action under Russian flags on Russia Day.”
On his Web site the day before the rally, Navalny urged Russians not to see protesting as futile: “Don't say ‘it's pointless.’ There’s nothing worse than that. It’s because of ‘it’s pointless’ that Putin’s billionaire friends are hanging on. Don’t say ‘I don't have the time. I’m busy. . . .’ You have two hours for a peaceful walk outdoors in good weather. You don’t have more important business.”
Since Putin’s return to the Kremlin, in 2012, the government has hardened its policies toward public dissent, and officials across Russia are concerned about suppressing or, better yet, preventing opposition initiatives. This goal has become even more important as the 2018 Presidential election draws closer.
The authorities did all they could to disrupt Monday’s protests, short of a direct ban. In Moscow, Navalny was not allowed to stage the rally downtown, and was forced to agree to a more distant venue. Law-enforcement officials searched his Moscow office; activists in several cities were attacked by vigilantes. (In April, Navalny himself was assaulted by an attacker who splashed liquid in his face, causing a chemical burn that temporarily damaged his vision.) A few days before Monday’s rally, city officials in Moscow announced that they had equipment that would allow them to film and identify every person who attended.
On the evening before the protests, Navalny posted a message saying that rally organizers in Moscow could not get local businesses to supply them with a sound system. He reported that the mayor’s office was warning local businesspeople not to deal with Navalny and the event. In a final effort to outmaneuver authorities, Navalny moved the rally to Tverskaya, Moscow’s main street, which would be closed to traffic because of the Russia Day celebrations.
Navalny never made it to Tverskaya. He was detained as he was leaving his apartment building;his wife took a photo of the arrest from their balcony. He was promptly sentenced to thirty days in prison.
Still, the number of protests staged in different parts of the country on Monday was even greater than that of Navalny’s demonstrations in late March. “People in the regions are influenced by the wave, and this wave is rising,” Kirill Rogov, a Russian political expert, said on TVRain, after the protest. “It dipped in 2013-2015, but it is returning now.”
Once again, most of the protesters were very young. The Tverskaya gathering was fairly peaceful, as Navalny had promised, with little political messaging beyond anti-Putin chants. But the police responded with beatings and mass detentions. (More than eight hundred protesters were detained in Moscow, along with more than six hundred in St. Petersburg and about two hundred in other localities.) The next day, Moscow’s mayor said that the protest on Tverskaya had been “a villainous and dangerous provocation” and called the police response “professional and appropriate.”
Navalny, who announced late last year that he would run for President in 2018, remains at the mercy of the Kremlin, which is unlikely to allow him to run. As a potential Presidential contender, he does not present a serious threat to Putin. Though he may be popular among urban youth, a May poll showed that just two per cent of likely voters were willing to vote for him; eighty-two per cent said they would vote for Putin.
Nevertheless, Navalny presents a dilemma. The Kremlin can sentence him to a long prison term, but doing so might strengthen the mostly passive discontent in Russia and reduce voter turnout. Putin needs a decisive victory in 2018, and he can't get that without a large number of urban votes. Support from provincial, older, and conservative constituencies will not be enough. But, if Navalny remains free, he could capitalize on growing anger about egregious corruption among élites. The temptation to neutralize Navalny—by arresting him, or with other measures—will likely rise closer to the election, next spring.
Videos from Monday’s rally showed young people defying government authorities at the risk of being beaten or detained. Though they have responded to Navalny’s calls, no cohesive opposition political movement has emerged, apart from these occasional protests. So far, Navalny has failed to significantly expand the number of protesters or offer his supporters a new and clear political agenda.
Yet discontent in parts of Russian society is not dissipating. Beyond Navalny’s rallies, a growing number of protests in response to socioeconomic problems have broken out in various parts of the country.
Throughout his many years in power, Putin has repeatedly spoken of the need for cohesion and unity. Late last year, he claimed that the Russian people finally “managed to achieve . . . social, political, and civil concord.” Yet “reconciliation” and “concord,” for Putin’s Kremlin, leave no room for independent activism or political dissent. His effort to consolidate power by intimidating protesters will only deepen the alienation of independent-minded Russians from the ruling élite.
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