Thread: Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny

On Putin's birthday, opposition activists protest, call for him to quit



MOSCOW/ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Police detained more than 200 opposition activists on Saturday for taking part in a wave of anti-Kremlin protests across Russia in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, ahead of a presidential election in March, a monitoring group reported.


Under grey skies and intermittent rain, over two thousand people gathered in central Moscow’s Pushkin Square and chanted “Russia will be free” and “Russia without Putin” before walking towards the Kremlin and parliament.


Police briefly detained a few people, but did not charge anyone. It was a different story at rallies in other cities however, and the OVD-Info monitoring group, a non-profit organization, said at least 262 people had been detained in 27 towns.


In St Petersburg, Putin’s home town, a Reuters witness saw riot police roughly detain at least 11 people. OVD-Info said at least 66 people had been detained in the city.


Navalny, who is serving a 20-day jail term for violating rules on public meetings, called the rally in Moscow and other cities to coincide with Putin’s 65th birthday.


Putin, who has dominated Russia’s political landscape for almost 18 years, is widely expected to run for what would be his fourth term.


Navalny hopes to run too, despite the central election commission declaring him ineligible due to a suspended prison sentence he says was politically-motivated.


One of the Moscow protesters held a homemade poster of Putin sitting on a mountain of banknotes, wearing a crown with the legend: “Happy Birthday you little thief!”


Others carried posters citing their right to protest, some waved Russian flags, and a few carried inflatable yellow ducks, a jokey reference to Navalny accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of owning a lavish estate with a duck house.


Medvedev called the claims politically-motivated nonsense.


Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny attends an appeal against his jail for repeatedly violating laws governing the organisation of public meetings and rallies, at Moscow city court in Moscow, Russia October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
In St Petersburg, some 1,500 activists waving red and white banners gathered in a square before heading for the city’s main street shouting “Putin is a thief” and “Free Navalny”.




PROTESTS MORE MODEST IN SIZE


The size of Saturday’s Moscow rally and others across Russia looked far more modest than Navalny-backed mass protests in March and June, which were widely recognized to be some of the biggest since 2012.


Many of the Moscow protesters were teenagers or in their twenties.


Carrying a yellow duck, Ulugbek Apsapayev, 17, said he had turned up because he wanted a better future for Russia.


“The duck is a sign that we support Alexei Navalny who also wants only good things for the country. But unfortunately we only have Vladimir Putin and his gang in power.”


Putin is popular across the country however, especially outside major cities where his strong leadership style and tough foreign policy stance go down well. He is expected to confirm later this year that he will run for another six-year term.


Opinion polls show he would comfortably beat Navalny if the opposition leader was allowed to run. Navalny says such polls are meaningless because there is no fair political competition.


Putin spent his birthday taking congratulatory calls from other world leaders, and chaired a security council meeting.


Authorities had refused to approve most of Saturday’s rallies, but Navalny says Russians’ right to protest is enshrined in the constitution.


A Reuters reporter at a rally in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg saw police detain at least eight people among a crowd of over 1,000 protesters.


On Putin's birthday, opposition activists protest, call for him to quit | Reuters

More photos here

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2017/10...hday-in-photos

Navalny will reportedly file his presidential candidacy paperwork in the next two weeks

The Navalny campaign is putting the final touches on the registration paperwork it will submit to Russia’s Central Election Commission. The opposition politician has reportedly completed nearly all the documents necessary to register his candidacy.


Before submitting these documents, however, applicants must physically assemble an advocacy group of at least 500 people. Navalny’s campaign says it will stage assemblies in 20 cities across Russia on December 24.


The television network Dozhd warns that Navalny is also required to submit the candidacy paperwork to the Central Election Commission in person, and he runs the risk of being arrested en route to the building.



Russian election law states that persons wishing to run for president, after assembling at least 500 people in an advocacy group and submitting the candidacy paperwork in person, can begin campaign fundraising and start collecting the necessary 300,000 signatures to become independent candidates.


Ella Pamfilova, the chairperson of Russia’s Central Election Commission has declared repeatedly that Navalny’s application will be rejected on the grounds that he has a felony conviction that prevents him, by law, from running for elected office at this time. Navalny has called this restriction unconstitutional, but Russia’s Constitutional Court has upheld the law.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2017/12/18...ater-this-week

Kremlin seeks investigation of vote boycott called by Putin opponent

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hundreds of Russian celebrities, sportspeople and politicians nominated President Vladimir Putin for re-election on Tuesday, hours after the Kremlin said it wanted opposition leader Alexei Navalny investigated for calling for a boycott of the vote.

Navalny called for the boycott of the March 18 election on Monday after Russia’s central election commission ruled he was not eligible to run for president due to a suspended prison sentence hanging over him.


The 41-year-old lawyer, who says he’s being excluded on false grounds because the Kremlin is running scared, said he would use his campaign headquarters across the country to call the election’s legitimacy into question and organize protests.


The Kremlin, which points to polls that show Putin is the runaway favorite with Navalny trailing far behind, on Tuesday set the scene for possible police action against Navalny and his supporters whose protests have been broken up before.


“The calls for a boycott will require scrupulous study, to see whether or not they comply with the law,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.


Declining to comment on the election commission’s decision to bar Navalny, Peskov shrugged off allegations that the presidential poll would be a farce without the opposition leader who has made a name for himself by leveraging social media and conducting corruption investigations into senior officials.


“The fact that one of the would-be candidates is not taking part has no bearing on the election’s legitimacy,” said Peskov.
Hours later, Putin, 65, was feted by his supporters, almost 700 of whom pledged to back him for re-election -- above the minimum 500 required to initiate a presidential bid.

Putin’s own schedule was too busy for him to attend the Moscow nomination event, the Kremlin said, though he is expected to personally submit the necessary paperwork to the central election commission in the coming days.




FATHER OF THE NATION

The former KGB officer is running as an independent, a move seen as a way of strengthening his image as a “father of the nation” rather than as a party political figure.


The ruling United Russia party and the Just Russia party have both said they will support him.


“I have worked under the leadership of the president for quite a long time so I know that everything will be alright for us with President Putin,” Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s former ambassador to the United States, now a senator, told Reuters at Tuesday’s nomination meeting.


The commander of a nuclear submarine, Sergei Novokhatsky, told the same meeting that Putin had helped revive the Russian Navy, which he described as mired in apathy at the end of the 1990s with many of its ships stuck in ports.


Now, he said, wages were up and Russian ships served throughout the world.


“The course the motherland is on is the right one,” Novokhatsky told the meeting.


If, as expected, he wins re-election, Putin, who has dominated Russia’s political landscape for the last 17 years, will be eligible to serve another six years until 2024, when he turns 72.


Allies laud him for restoring national pride and expanding Moscow’s global clout with interventions in Syria and Ukraine.


But Navalny, the opposition leader, says Putin’s support is exaggerated and artificially maintained by a biased state media and an unfair system which excludes genuine opponents.


Navalny, who says he could defeat Putin in a fair election, has been jailed three times this year and charged with breaking the law for organizing public meetings and rallies designed to bolster his presidential campaign.


He has said millions of voters will be disenfranchised unless the authorities relent and allow him to run.


The European Union has also questioned the decision to bar Navalny.


“(It) casts a serious doubt on political pluralism in Russia and the prospect of democratic elections next year,” the EU’s External Action Service said in a statement on Tuesday.


“Politically motivated charges should not be used against political participation,” it said, urging Moscow to ensure a “level playing field” for all Russian elections.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-r...-idUSKBN1EK15S

^
The problem seems to be Navalny can’t run because he was charged with a crime he didn’t commit just to keep him from running.


Navalny calls for nationwide protests on January 28


Following the Central Election Commission’s decision to reject his presidential candidacy application, opposition politician Alexey Navalny is calling for nationwide protests on Sunday, January 28. According to Navalny’s website, demonstrations will take place in more than 90 cities.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2017/12/27...-on-january-28

^ The Daily Mail?

Better idea. You quit whining about what I post and you include the divergent opinions.

As as long as what you link to comes from a news source and not a blog, is good to go.

My apologies it was another poster

Your Meduza looks like a blog. Any ides who funds it?

^ Not a blog. It is a news aggregator. If you have dirt on Meduza, spill. Don’t ask me to do your research for you.

Originally Posted by misskit

^
The problem seems to be Navalny can’t run because he was charged with a crime he didn’t commit just to keep him from running.


Navalny calls for nationwide protests on January 28


Following the Central Election Commission’s decision to reject his presidential candidacy application, opposition politician Alexey Navalny is calling for nationwide protests on Sunday, January 28. According to Navalny’s website, demonstrations will take place in more than 90 cities.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2017/12/27...-on-january-28

That's a pretty mean - and obviously criminal - to incite a riot when the population goes to vote.

Actually, what program does he offer as a president? (Beside to get rid off Putin?)

Perhaps, a similar program proven in Ukraine's Maidan is planned (also with snipers)?

I see the hatred for Vlad the great champion of democracy who defeated ISIS and brought peace to Syria still runs strong amongst the oppressed Americans many of whom still live on food stamps and other various government handouts.

Who is foolish enough to think that the 140 millions of Russians (minus x Navalny's friends) will be foolish enough to think that they would be better with such a crook who would bring them on the same path like the previous leaders such as Jelcin, Gorbatchov?

He has about 0.0004% of the popular vote based on polls. HE's a typical WEstern Mainstream Press fake hero with the false narrative about him being swallowed hook line and sinker by the CNN mob and "It should have been hillary" merkin losers.

He's a nothing and to think that Putin would bother to do anything about him when he has 90% of the vote (94% when he rigs it) is utter nonsense.

Originally Posted by pseudolus

He has about 0.0004% of the popular vote based on polls

And yet, every "recognized" MSM will have him on the first page...
Had we ever heard about a POTUS hopeful with a 0.0004%?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

And yet, every "recognized" MSM will have him on the first page...
Had we ever heard about a POTUS hopeful with a 0.0004%?

Ralph Nader, although you have probably never heard of him.

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Ralph Nader, although you have probably never heard of him.

No, of course I have heard about him. And I was thinking who will bring him up.
However, he was a different case, not just 0.0004%. And a man with more in his program than to bring down the favorite candidate and to incite a turmoil in the country...

Originally Posted by misskit

If you have dirt on Meduza, spill. Don’t ask me to do your research for you.

Yet you sneer at Zerohedge.

You brought up the validity of particular types of "sources" so I assumed you had a method of determining the good ones and the bad ones. Seems I was wrong.

So you have no idea who is behind the place, funding it and deciding the editorial direction, but continue to post their propaganda. Any idea as to how many of their "professionally written and researched pieces of aggregated news" have been proven wrong/fictitious?

Should we assume all your "sources" are similarly possible fake news, regardless of type, blog, news aggregator or "respected" MSM ?

Send in the ameristani "State Police". Is that a twin barrel cannon on the front?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

No, of course I have heard about him. And I was thinking who will bring him up.
However, he was a different case, not just 0.0004%. And a man with more in his program than to bring down the favorite candidate and to incite a turmoil in the country...

Psedoulous invented that statistic you gullible serb twit.

Perhaps you have got another %? Enlighten us please.

Originally Posted by Latindancer

That's the back, you twat.

My apologies for having little knowledge of ameristani police equipment.