Prokhorov: Navalny’s performance phenomenal but I would have won in first round

Mikhail Prokohrov file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 9, 2013) Election performance of opposition candidate Alexei Navalny was phenomenal, Civil Platform party leader Mikhail Prokhorov said, adding that he could have defeated Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin already in the first round. “The preliminary result of Alexei (Navalny) makes me think that they (the authorities) must have realized there would have not been any […]

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Generation N: How Navalny Shook Up Politics With His Army Of Volunteers

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, September 9, 2013) For Aleksei Shagal, it all began when he read one of Aleksei Navalny’s blog posts. The 27-year-old freelance journalist was deeply inspired by Navalny, an anticorruption blogger with a nationalist streak, and was propelled for the first time in his life into political activism. Shagal joined the throngs who […]

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Navalny: this election gives birth to genuine Russian opposition

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – September 10, 2013) No incidents occurred during the Monday rally staged by supporters of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who ranked second in the Moscow mayoral elections, on Bolotnaya Square. “This election has finally molded politics in Russia,” Navalny said at the rally. He called his election result a victory. “I know that a third of Moscow voters cast […]

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Sobyanin vs Navalny: One wins, did the other lose?

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – September 10, 2013) The pro-Kremlin Moscow mayor-elect Sergei Sobyanin may have won a firm victory in Sunday’s polls, but unexpectedly high results for his rival, opposition activist Alexei Navalny, suggest authorities got more than they bargained for when they called for snap elections. Instead of a mayor legitimized by the first competitive […]

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Navalny’s election result opens up his political vistas – policy expert

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 8, 2013) Opposition activist Alexei Navalny scored high in the Moscow mayoral elections and he has a political future, Center for Political Technologies First Vice-President Alexei Makarkin said. Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is leading in the election with 56% of the vote, and Navalny goes second with 29%, according to the Center for Political Technologies’ […]

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Navalny does better than expected in Moscow mayor election

Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – September 9, 2013) What to make of opposition blogger Alexei Navalny’s unexpectedly strong result in the Moscow mayor elections on Sunday, September 8? With over 98% of the votes counted Navalny received 27.37% against the incumbent Sergei Sobyanin’s 51.15%, the election committee said on Monday, September 9. Navalny’s tally is a lot more than […]

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Russian opposition activist sees Putin’s remarks as good sign

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – September 5, 2013) Russian opposition activist and Moscow mayoral candidate Aleksey Navalnyy believes that, by commenting about him yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to lower the candidate’s rating the Moscow mayoral election on 8 September, Russian Interfax news agency reported on 5 September. “Thus the authorities are making desperate attempts to lower my rating by a few […]

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Navalny Backs Economic Amnesty, Windfall Tax on Privatized Assets

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Vladimir Goryachev and Oleg Sukhov – September 3, 2013) Mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny has voiced support for an economic amnesty and a windfall tax on some privatized assets at a high-profile meeting with businessmen and top executives, Vedomosti reported. The event was the first public meeting with entrepreneurs during Navalny’s campaign, with the previous ones […]

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Russian Intelligentsia Prepared to Overlook Navalny’s Nationalism

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, September 3, 2013) Driven by their hatred of Vladimir Putin as a personality and their lack of a place in today’s Russia, the liberal intelligentsia has been willing to overlook xenophobic, nationalist and even anti-Semitic remarks by Aleksey Navalny, even though such ugly comments would have ended the careers of Western politicians […]

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Moscow mayoral battle: Clash of political cultures

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – August 26, 2013) Kremlin ally faces convicted opposition leader Navalny after a date change rules out Prokhorov. A political contest for control of Europe’s largest city has become a fight between Kremlin-backed Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and opposition activist Alexei Navalny. The Sept. 8 election for mayor of Moscow will […]

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Navalny Faces New Pressure as Mayoral Race Heats Up

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova and Ezekiel Pfeifer – August 23, 2013) The mayoral campaign of opposition leader Alexei Navalny faced a new wave of pressure by authorities Thursday as the Moscow Elections Commission warned he could be struck from the ballot and police raided a printer of his campaign materials. With just over two weeks left before […]

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Navalny’s Campaign Relies on Innovation

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – August 22, 2013) Standing on a soapbox, mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny asks the people who’ve gathered to listen to his campaign speech near Timiryazevskaya railway station: “What do you know about me?” After a brief silence, someone in the crowd hesitatingly replies: “Corruption.” “What do you mean corruption? You mean I stole […]

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Leading Russian pollster rejects opposition hopeful’s figures for mayoral vote

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, August 20, 2013) The opinion poll data published by Moscow mayoral candidate (from the opposition RPR-Parnas party) Aleksey Navalnyy, which indicate that a second round is possible in the mayoral election on 8 September, do not reflect the real balance of forces and are dictated by the wish to influence voters, VTsIOM (Russian Public Opinion Research Centre) […]

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Daughters of fortune

Hands Opening Envelope Containing Cash

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – August 21, 2013) With Moscow about to vote for a new mayor this September, opposition blogger and candidate for the job Alexei Navalny is doing what he does best: exposing the sweet little earners that come from being well connected. In this case it is Anna Sobyanina, the daughter of Moscow’s incumbent mayor, Sergei […]

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Russian Pundits Say Navalny’s Pull Out From Election Debates Is Non-Fatal Error

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, August 18, 2013) The decision of Moscow mayoral candidate Aleksey Navalnyy to not take part in debates on the Moskva Doveriye TV channel and the Moskva FM radio station can be described as a certain mistake, however he can use the time he saves to maximize contacts with voters on subjects that suit him, political analysts […]

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Navalny gives account on election fund spending on Internet

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 19, 2013) Moscow mayor candidate Alexei Navalny said that he had spent 47 million rubles on the election campaign and that he asked his supporters to keep transferring money. “Over five weeks passed since the fundraising campaign began. You have given us over 49 million rubles during this time. Over 8,000 people donated to our election […]

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Navalny staff denies violations in fund raising

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 19, 2013) The campaign staff of opposition activist, Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny has denied fund raising violations insinuated by the Interior Ministry. “Apparently, everything we have done is absolutely legal. They can do nothing but post a press release with scary words every Monday,” Navalny campaign staff head Leonid Volkov told Interfax on Monday. “The […]

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Scenes from an election campaign

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(opendemocracy.net – Anastasia Valeeva – August 16, 2013) Anastasia Valeeva is a Moscow-based journalist working at Public Television of Russia and doing her MA at the University of Siegen, Germany. The upcoming Moscow mayoral election is much in the news because one of the candidates, Alexei Navalny, is appealing against a prison sentence. Anastasia Valeeva gives a snapshot of some […]

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Navalny Seeks Votes from Non-Russian Diasporas in Moscow

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 19, 2013) Aleksey Navalny, despite his reputation for “politically incorrect” Russian nationalist statements, has now turned to Moscow’s non-Russian diasporas for a very simple reason: they form a minimum of 1.5 million of the city’s residents and cannot be ignored by anyone who hopes to win election there. Last week, the […]

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Navalny Won’t Participate in Future Debates

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 19, 2013) Opposition blogger Alexei Navalny has announced that he will not participate in the next rounds of mayoral debates, both televised and on the radio. The Navalny campaign criticized the decision by television channel Moskva-Doverie to air the debate at 8 a.m., Interfax reported. Last week Navalny, the RPR-Parnas candidate, participated in three […]

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Sobyanin Support Falls 11% in Latest Poll

Sergei Sobyanin file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 16, 2013) The latest poll shows that support for acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin slid 11 percentage points, a substantial fall that accompanies better showings from his opponents in the upcoming mayoral election. A survey conducted by Synovate Comcon between Aug. 8 and 14 found that Sobyanin’s support fell from 74.6 percent to 63.5 percent […]

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Moscow Mayoral Race Heats Up In The Home Stretch

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Natalya Dzhanpoladova & Arslan Saidov – MOSCOW, August 14, 2013) According to a recent Levada Center poll, 40 percent of Muscovites believe the campaign for the city’s September 8 mayoral election will be “dirty, featuring slander, falsification, [and] abuse of administrative resources.” The events of the last couple of weeks seem to be proving them right, […]

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Messiah or false prophet? [re: Navalny]

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(opendemocracy.net – Daniil Kotsyubinsky – August 13, 2013) Daniil Kotsyubinsky is a Russian historian and journalist based in St. Petersburg For the past month, Moscow has been following the fortunes of opposition leader Aleksey Navalny ­ trial, imprisonment, implausible release and continuing Mayoral ambitions. But can all really be as it seems? Daniil Kotsyubinsky presents an alternative view. Moscow’s hot […]

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No fair play in Moscow mayoral election

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Obrazkova, RBTH – August 14, 2013) All is fair in love and war – and in the Moscow mayoral race. As Navalny deals with accusations of receiving campaign funding from abroad, Sobyanin’s properties are the target of the opposition. The first major scandals of the Moscow mayoral campaign have erupted. The Prosecutor […]

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The Audacity Of Navalny

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RFE/RL – Brian Whitmore – August 8, 2013) There’s just no escaping Aleksei Navalny. Whether one thinks he’s Russia’s greatest hope, or the most dangerous man in Russia, he is absolutely dominating the conversation right now. The ruling United Russia party is complaining about his online fundraising, as is Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Television personality Ksenia Sobchak is worried about his aggressive […]

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Navalny loses potential voters in Moscow, Sobyanin gains – poll

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 6, 2013) The number of Moscow citizens intending to vote in the upcoming Moscow mayoral elections for Sergei Sobyanin is growing, while the share of those planning to support his main rival Alexei Navalny is decreasing, the research center of Superjob.ru portal said. “Over a half (53%) of those who have already decided on their votes […]

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Thirty-Seven Business Leaders Back Navalny in Moscow Mayoral Race

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 7, 2013) ­ A group of 37 CEOs and entrepreneurs from Russian internet companies and start-up businesses have announced their backing for opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s bid to become mayor of Moscow, in a rare intervention in favor of opposition politics by Russian business. Their support for Navalny at the upcoming election, at which he […]

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Aleksei Navalny takes on ‘the fools and the roads’

Alexei Navalny file photo

(opendemocracy.net – Mikhail Loginov – August 5, 2013) Mikhail Loginov is a journalist and novelist based in St Petersburg. He is the author of the recently published bestselling political thriller “Battle for Kremlin”. As the saying goes: ‘Russia has two misfortunes: the fools and the roads.’ Aleksei Navalny is just about still standing for election as Mayor of Moscow, but, […]

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Putin Questions Jail Term for Opposition Leader Navalny

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 2, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that a recent real jail term for his vehement opponent Alexei Navalny was “strange,” given that another defendant in the case got away with a suspended sentence. Whistleblowing blogger Navalny was given five years in jail last month on embezzlement charges that he dismissed as fabricated by […]

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Local Politics in Moscow Goes Global

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 139 – Pavel K. Baev – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – July 29, 2013) Last week, Aleksei Navalny re-entered the Moscow mayoral election campaign after his implausible release from jail the day after being condemned to five years behind bars on a blatantly fabricated charge. His team has jump-started the work in earnest, mobilizing […]

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Putin Uses His Favorite Ax to Grind Navalny

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm, Opinion Page Editor – July 26, 2013) All autocracies have two things in common: They exaggerate the threats they face from leading opposition figures and take extreme, repressive measures to limit or remove those threats. Russia is certainly no exception, and the trial and conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalny is a case […]

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Russia’s Aleksei Navalny: Hope Of The Nation — Or The Nationalists?

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – July 28, 2013) Aleksei Navalny has been called the best hope for liberalization in Russia. And he has been called the most dangerous man in the country. Navalny has risen quickly to become the de facto head of Russia’s anti-Kremlin opposition — a rise based almost entirely on his relentless exposure of high-level […]

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Navalnyy’s support in upcoming Moscow mayor election stands at 9 per cent – poll

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – July 23, 2013) According to an opinion poll carried out in Moscow on 20-21 July, only 9 per cent of those polled would vote for opposition leader Aleksey Navalnyy in the Moscow mayor election to be held on 8 September, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 23 July.(1) The figure has gone up 1 per cent since […]

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No economic amnesty to Russian opposition leader, tycoon yet – ombudsman

Boris Titov file photo

(Interfax – July 23, 2013) Russia’s business ombudsman Boris Titov, who proposed the idea of economic amnesty, has said that it is difficult to grant it now to opposition leader Aleksey Navalnyy and former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovskiy from the legal standpoint. Titov said this at a news conference in Moscow on 23 July, as reported by Russian news agency […]

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Navalny’s catch-22

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow News – Anna Arutunyan, Editor and Correspondent at themoscownews.com – July 22, 2013) For all the Byzantine intrigue behind the decision to let opposition blogger Alexei Navalny go free pending appeals, I was sincerely glad for him, his family and his supporters. Last Thursday’s ruling, which slapped Navalny with a five-year term in a penal colony, brutally wiped out […]

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Interfax: Navalny has no chance to win and he doesn’t plan to – analysts

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 23, 2013) Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s participation in the Moscow mayoral elections will enhance their legitimacy, although no one thinks Navalny will win, political analysts said. “Navalny will definitely lose in an honest game,” Konstantin Kostin, chairman of the Civil Society Development Foundation, said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday. The front-runner, Sergei Sobyanin, […]

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Why Navalny Is Winning

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – July 22, 2013) Vladimir Putin submerging into the depths in a submarine. Aleksei Navalny being greeted by an adoring crowd as he triumphantly returned to Moscow. Something old, something new. The two images bookended what was a remarkable — and highly consequential — week in Russia. As the Navalny saga was unfolding — […]

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Navalny: Out of the frying pan, into the Moscow mayoral race

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Kristen Blyth – July 22, 2013) Even for Muscovites who aren’t very much into politics, the September mayoral elections are about to get interesting. The surprising five-year sentence for opposition candidate Alexei Navalny – and the equally shocking decision to free him the very next day pending appeal – has both exacerbated political […]

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Navalny Highlights Investors’ Black-Box Conundrum: Russia Credit

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ksenia Galouchko & Vladimir Kuznetsov – July 22, 2013) The conviction of Alexey Navalny, a political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, highlights risks faced by investors as they weigh whether to buy assets in the world’s biggest energy exporter. Russia, which earned about $350 billion from oil and gas exports last year, has a Baa1 […]

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Interfax: Release of inmate at prosecutor’s demand is unprecedented – lawyer Reznik

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 19, 2013) Moscow Bar Association President Henri Reznik has called the release of opposition activist Alexei Navalny from custody with travel restrictions the day after his incarceration unprecedented. “I must tell you I cannot recall a similar situation. I cannot remember a single case of a prosecutors’ objection to the measures chosen by a court after […]

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RIA Novosti: Kremlin Denies That Putin Played Role in Navalny’s Release

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 22, 2013) ­ The Kremlin’s spokesman on Monday said President Vladimir Putin had played no role in opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s sudden release from jail last week. Navalny, who is running for mayor of Moscow, was taken into custody Thursday upon being sentenced to five years in prison for masterminding a 2009 embezzlement scheme that […]

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Newly Freed Navalny Sets Sights on Mayor’s Office

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko & Oleg Sukhov – July 22, 2013) Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, unexpectedly freed by a Kirov court a day after being jailed on embezzlement charges, got a hero’s welcome from hundreds of supporters when his train arrived in Moscow over the weekend, and he immediately announced that he would pursue his long-shot bid […]

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Pyotr Ofitserov: The Man Who Stood Beside Navalny To The Bitter End

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – July 18, 2013) Opposition politician and anticorruption blogger Aleksei Navalny got all the press during the nearly four months of his trial. But he was not alone in the dock, as he took pains to point out during his closing remarks on July 5. “First, I would like to take this opportunity to […]

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Russia faces economic costs from Navalny’s conviction

File Photo of Outdoor Electronic Sign with Russian Exchange Data

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – July 19, 2013) The Kremlin was hit with what is like to be a serious of extremely expensive bills following the conviction of opposition blogger Alexei Navalny to five years in jail on corruption charges by a court in Kirov on July 19. Russia’s stock market tanked as the […]

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Navalny Sentence a Blow to Business

File Photo of Cash, Coins, Line Graph

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – July 19, 2013) The Russian stock market reacted pessimistically Thursday following the ruling of a regional court that sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny to five years in prison for embezzlement. The sentence is widely believed to be another blow to Russia’s image and is likely to result in an a more dramatic […]

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Russian rights official says Navalnyy sentence could have dramatic consequences

Vladimir Lukin file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, July 18, 2013) Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin hopes that the appeal will lead to a serious change in the sentence given to opposition activist Aleksey Navalnyy, whom a court in Kirov jailed for five years. “I have no right to comment on the political aspect of the events. However, there will, most likely, be an […]

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Conviction turns Navalny into nationwide political figure – analyst

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) Gleb Pavlovsky, a political analyst and head of the Efficient Politics Foundation, considers opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s conviction a mistake and believes this will only cause his popularity to grow. “Navalny made a lot of mistakes in the past. But in the past month, during the trial, Navalny has behaved very correctly, politically speaking. […]

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Navalny promises to make decision on Moscow mayoral elections soon

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – KIROV, July 19, 2013) Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny has said he will make a final decision regarding his further participation in the Moscow mayoral race after he returns to Moscow and consults with his election campaign coordinators. “This decision will be made after I return to Moscow and we discuss everything,” Navalny said, answering a question from […]

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RIA Novosti: Russian Railways CEO Denies Navalny’s Allegations of Corruption

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 19, 2013) The head of one of the world’s largest transport companies, state-owned Russian Railways, this week dismissed as unfounded corruption allegations made against him by opposition protest leader Alexei Navalny, Prime news agency reported. In a blog post earlier in the week, Navalny published details of property and offshore companies that he claims are […]

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Interfax: Protests against Navalny’s conviction will be insignificant – pro-Kremlin analyst

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) The Russian opposition will try to take advantage of Alexei Navalny’s conviction in pursuing its political ends, but protests against this will not be very significant, says Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst and a member of the Public Chamber. “Some actions have been prepared and will be held, but they will be very […]

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