Russian opposition figures differ on Khodorkovskiy’s political prospects

Mikhail Khodorkovsky file photo

(Interfax – December 22, 2013) Russian opposition politicians and human rights figures have expressed different views on the political future of former head of the Yukos oil company, Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, who was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin and released from prison on 20 December. Eduard Limonov, radical opposition figure and leader of the unregistered Other Russia party, thinks that Khodorkovskiy […]

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There Were No Bolotnaya Riots, International Experts Say

Russian Riot Police file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – December 19, 2013) An international public commission declared Wednesday that there were no “riots” at the May 2012 opposition protest on Bolotnaya Ploshchad in Moscow, which was dispersed after violence broke out with police, resulting in more than 400 detentions. The commission’s findings were announced as hope lingers that at least some […]

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RIA Novosti: Moscow Court Halts Prosecution of Four Accused Rioters

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) ­ A Moscow court said Thursday that it was halting prosecution of four protesters accused of attacking police last year at an opposition rally that deteriorated into mass riots. The Nikulinsky Court decided to halt the proceedings as part of a sweeping amnesty that is being granted to thousands of prisoners and defendants in honor […]

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Interfax: Navalny “oligarchic project” – Yabloko leader

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) – The leader of Russia’s liberal Yabloko party, Sergei Mitrokhin, has described opposition activist Alexei Navalny as an “oligarchic project.” “Here is an oligarchic project under the tentative name Alexei Navalny. We know that this project is supported by the big interests and money of dissatisfied oligarchs and enjoys latent support from the Russian elite,” Mitrokhin […]

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Gudkovs Aim to Consolidate Opposition Parties

File Photo of Gennady Gudkov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – December 16, 2013) Some of Russia’s most prominent nonsystemic opposition leaders founded the Social Democrats of Russia party on Sunday, marking a first step toward the possible consolidation of the country’s marginal social democratic factions. The announcement comes amid a proliferation of opposition parties, among them former Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny’s […]

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Navalny Says His Lawyer Status Has Been Scrubbed

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 4, 2013) Opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been stripped of the right to practice law due to his criminal conviction earlier this year, a post on his LiveJournal blog said. “Since I am a criminal and convicted of a premeditated crime the bar association simply didn’t have any other options legally,” Navalny wrote Tuesday. […]

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Navalny Testifies at Bolotnoye Riot Trial

Russian Riot Police file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 3, 2013) Contrary to investigators’ claims, organizers did not intentionally orchestrate riots at the demonstration on Bolotnaya Ploshchad on May 6 last year, opposition leader Alexei Navalny told a Moscow city court on Monday. “Officials intentionally instigated the crush so as to claim there were riots,” Navalny, who was present at the protest as […]

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The Price of the Opposition: Should One Walk in the Counsel of the Wicked?

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Alexander Podrabinek – November 25, 2013) The participation of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov in a recent Kremlin meeting with Vladimir Putin has reignited the debate about whether it is acceptable for the democratic opposition to engage with the leader of an authoritarian regime. Author and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek contends that […]

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Russian opposition parties’ leaders praise meeting with Putin

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Valdai Club 2013 Meeting, Adapted from Screenshot of Valdai Club Video at youtube.com

(Interfax – Moscow, November 21, 2013) [Non-parliamentary] opposition parties’ leaders have welcomed yesterday’s [20 November] meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it was constructive and expressing hope for [positive] outcome. As the co-chairman of the RPR-Parnas party Vladimir Ryzhkov told Interfax, “the impressions from the meeting with the president are good”. “Some changes have been made for the first […]

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Interfax: McFaul angry with Russian mass media reports on U.S. sponsoring opposition in Russia

Ambassador Mike McFaul file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax) – U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said he was angry with mass media reports on Washington supporting the Russian opposition. McFaul said at a public meeting in Moscow on Wednesday that nothing made him angrier about the Russian media than propaganda about the U.S. government sponsoring Russian opposition. According to the ambassador, he saw Russian […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Meeting with leaders of non-parliamentary parties

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking with Flag Behind Him and Microphones in Front

(Kremlin.ru – The Kremlin, Moscow – November 20, 2013) [Complete transcript of meeting in Russian here http://www.kremlin.ru/news/19659] Vladimir Putin met with the leaders of non-parliamentary parties. Taking part in the meeting were representatives of Civic Platform, Communists of Russia, Right Cause, Patriots of Russia, the Republican Party of Russia ­ Party of People’s Freedom, Motherland, Russian Party of Pensioners for […]

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Putin Meets for First Time With Nonparliamentary Opposition

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Valdai Club 2013 Meeting, Adapted from Screenshot of Valdai Club Video at youtube.com

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com –  Natalya Krainova – November 21, 2013) President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday met with leaders of major nonparliamentary parties for the first time in his 13 years in power, to discuss issues that will be addressed in his state-of-the-nation speech to be delivered next month. Participants in the meeting, who included billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov of Civil […]

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Navalny’s Party Holds Founding Congress for Third Time

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – November 18, 2013) Opposition politician Alexei Navalny formally joined the People’s Alliance party and was elected its leader on Sunday when it held its founding congress. The congress, which was attended by 111 delegates from 48 regions, marked the party’s third attempt to be registered. The People’s Alliance held previous founding congresses […]

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Interfax: Russians recognize need for political opposition but don’t believe in it coming to power – poll

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

(Interfax – November 7, 2013) In the last eight years the opinion of Russians about the place and role of the opposition in the world today has changed, studies of VTsIOM public opinion center indicate. The share of Russians believing that the objective of opposition forces is to work out their own course and come to power has grown from […]

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Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian opposition abandons street protests

Moscow Protest file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Obrazkova, RBTH – October 30, 2013) The protest movement in Russia is dwindling and growing old. The march in support of political convicts, which took place in Moscow on Oct. 27, gathered 5,000­7,000 people ­ a remarkable setback compared to what happened a year ago. Experts note that the protest movement in […]

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RIA Novosti: Russia to Consider Letting Ex-Convicts Run for Office

Russian Duma Building

MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russian lawmakers will consider letting people who have been convicted for serious crimes run in elections, on the condition that voters are told about their criminal records. “As it turns out, people’s rights are affected, even though they’ve already been punished,” state lawmaker Sergei Ivanov of the nationalist LDPR party and author of the […]

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Russians differ on whether Russia has opposition – poll

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) – Forty percent of the respondents surveyed by the Public Opinion Foundation believe Russia has political opposition, 30% believe it does not, and the others were undecided. The poll was conducted in 43 regions of Russia in mid October. It surveys 1,500 respondents. Only 4% of those who believe Russia has political opposition believe it has […]

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Sobyanin and Putin ‘Talked Over’ Navalny Election Participation

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – October 21, 2013) Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said that he conferred with President Vladimir Putin about the decision to allow opposition leader Alexei Navalny to participate in the mayoral election on Sept. 8, confirming widespread speculations at the time. Putin and First Deputy Chief of Staff Vyacheslav Volodin “had a positive attitude […]

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Prisoners of the psyche: Forced psychiatry in today’s Russia

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – October 16, 2013) A court last week ordered activist Mikhail Kosenko to undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment for attacking a riot police officer during the May 6, 2012 protest rally on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration. The ruling sparked concerns among rights activists that Soviet-era punitive psychiatry, when dissidents were found to […]

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Interfax: Russian politicians welcome Navalnyy news but Zhirinovskiy wants him banged up

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – October 16, 2013) Russian party leaders have for the most part welcomed the commutation of opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Aleksey Navalnyy’s sentence to a suspended one, on appeal, on 16 October. In reaction sampled by the Russian news agency Interfax, Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, of the nationalist Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), stood out, with his call for a […]

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Interfax: Navalny says appellate court will not acquit him of Kirovles embezzlement charges

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, October 15, 2013) Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny has said he does not expect the Kirov Regional Court to acquit him as it hears an appeal contesting Navalny’s embezzlement conviction on October 16. “I will be given a real or a suspended prison sentence, but I will not be acquitted,” he told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. However, […]

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Current History October Issue; Can Putin Keep His Grip on Power?

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 Subject: Re: Current History’s October issue From: Joshua Lustig [Managing Editor] <JoshuaLustig@currenthistory.com> Current History’s October 2013 issue, devoted to Russia and Eurasia, is available at www.currenthistory.com, in print, and via Kindle. It includes the following essays: Can Putin Keep His Grip on Power? by Daniel Treisman Moscow’s Soft Power Strategy, by Andrei P. Tsygankov Russia’s […]

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Navalny

Alexei Navalny file photo

From: “Michael Herzen” <mikeh@4herzen.net> Subject: Navalny Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 Re: JRL #145 of August 9, items 24 and 25: “ALEKSEI NAVALNY ­ AN EXAMINATION OF HIS TRIAL AND CONVICTION”, By Alexander Mercouris Surprised and dismayed that no one has commented on this “examination”, I will have to do so myself, though I am no legal scholar. Why this […]

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United Russia Lawmaker Backs Amnesty for Bolotnoye Suspects

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – September 25, 2013) A key United Russia lawmaker said Tuesday that he supported granting amnesty to suspects in the high-profile Bolotnoye case, echoing recent comments by President Vladimir Putin. Speculation about a possible amnesty for suspects in the case has grown since Putin said at the Valdai Club meeting last week that […]

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Navalny and the Moscow Mayoral Election – new issue of Russian Analytical Digest

Alexei Navalny file photo

Subject: No. 136: Navalny and the Moscow Mayoral Election Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 From: “Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)” <newslist@isn.ch> RUSSIAN ANALYTICAL DIGEST Newsletter 16 September 2013/No. 136 NAVALNY AND THE MOSCOW MAYORAL ELECTION To download this issue please click here: http://www.css.ethz.ch/policy_consultancy/products_INT/DetailansichtPubDB_EN?rec_id=2712 Analyses Navalny’s Campaign to be Moscow Mayor, by Robert W. Orttung, Washington Re-Setting the Game: The Logic and […]

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Roizman Inaugurated as Yekaterinburg Mayor

Yekaterinburg file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 24, 2013) Yevgeny Roizman was inaugurated as mayor of Yekaterinburg, just as the contest for city manager, which could well determine the influence Roizman will ultimately wield, began Tuesday. Six candidates have entered the contest, with the winner to be selected by the Yekaterinburg City Duma, RIA Novosti reported. Among them is current city […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin at] Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club (partial transcript continued)

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Valdai Club 2013 Meeting, Adapted from Screenshot of Valdai Club Video at youtube.com

(Kremlin.ru – Novgorod Region, September 19, 2013) SVETLANA MIRONYUK: Thank you. Mr President, Mr Rühe wants to respond. Mr Rühe, please go ahead. VOLKER RÜHE: President Putin, I go along with you, what you said on Iraq. And we were as critical; the French were, also. It was not a NATO ­ it was an American decision. But Libya was […]

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Court Rejects Navalny Election Appeal

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ezekiel Pfeifer – September 23, 2013) A Moscow court on Friday rejected a lawsuit brought by opposition politician Alexei Navalny seeking to cancel the results of the city’s Sept. 8 mayoral election, in which Navalny placed second behind Kremlin-backed winner Sergei Sobyanin. Navalny’s team argued that the results were illegitimate because of violations including unequal […]

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Opposition’s Council Left in Limbo

Moscow Protest file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – September 23, 2013) An alliance of Russia’s nonparliamentary opposition that was formed at the peak of large-scale street protests in Moscow last year has seen an exodus of its leaders, prompting predictions of its impending political death. Former mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny, Solidarity co-leaders Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin,  former State Duma […]

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Navalny’s status as undisputed leader of Russian opposition questioned

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – Moscow, September 18, 2013) The apparent fact that Aleksey Navalnyy is popular in Moscow does not make him the sole leader of the opposition in the country, believes Boris Nemtsov, co-chairman of RPR-Parnas. “It is an apparent fact that Aleksey Navalnyy is the leader of the opposition in Moscow. However, it is too early to say whether or […]

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Russian Opposition Lawmaker Calls Large-Scale Protests Unlikely

Moscow Protest file photo

(RIA Novosti – VALDAI, Novgorod Region, September 18, 2013) ­ An outspoken Russian opposition lawmaker said Wednesday that political protest in the country was too fragmented to generate the kind of large-scale public discontent that erupted after parliamentary elections in 2011. “I’m convinced there will be no new wave of protests,” Ilya Ponomaryov of A Just Russia party said at […]

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RIA Novosti: Russian Prosecutors Probe Opposition Figure for ‘Extremism’

Boris Nemtsov file photo

(RIA Novosti – YAROSLAVL, September 17, 2013) ­ Russian opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov is under investigation for publicly inciting “extremist activity,” local prosecutors told RIA Novosti Tuesday. Prosecutors in Yaroslavl did not indicate which statements concerned them, but Boris Nemtsov, who is co-leader of the Parnas opposition party and a local lawmaker, links this to […]

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Putin to Meet Opposition at Valdai Discussion Club, Report Says

Vladimir Putin file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 13, 2013) President Vladimir Putin will meet prominent opposition politicians at the 10th annual Valdai International Discussion Club, where Russian and foreign experts will discuss diversity, political and otherwise, in modern Russia, a news report said Friday. The forum is being held in the Novgorod region from Sept. 16-19 and will conclude with a […]

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Russians More Skeptical Over Prosecution of Opposition – Poll

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, September 13, 2013) ­ Public awareness in Russia of two criminal investigations and trials of leading opposition figures is on the rise, and the public is increasingly seeing these issues as politically motivated, a new poll has found. The survey published by the independent pollster Levada Center yesterday asked respondents about their knowledge of anti-corruption activist […]

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The Tortoise Revolution

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

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – September 11, 2013) When Aleksei Navalny addressed thousands of supporters on Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square, he surprised many when he urged the crowd to go home peacefully after the rally ended. Earlier on September 9, the anticorruption blogger-turned-opposition leader appeared to implicitly be threatening mass unrest when he said he would call his supporters […]

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Roizman Called In for Questioning 2 Days After Mayoral Win

Yekaterinburg file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 11, 2013) Opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman, who won Sunday’s mayoral vote in Yekaterinburg, was scheduled to be questioned by investigators Tuesday as a witness in a criminal case against a former employee of his City Without Drugs foundation. Roizman, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, was one of the few opposition members to win […]

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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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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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Televised Mayoral Debates Go Unnoticed

Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 6, 2013) Televised debates between the Moscow mayoral candidates did not stir much interest among audiences, with only half a percent of residents watching the most popular round of debates on Aug. 16. Sociologists attributed weak interest to acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s refusal to participate, Kommersant reported. A total of eleven debates have been […]

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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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Opposition can offer serious competition to party of power in Yekaterinburg and Voronezh – report

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

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 21, 2013) The Foundation for the Development of Civil Society (FoRGO) predicts that United Russia candidates may win all gubernatorial elections on September 8 but the opposition can offer strong rivalry in mayoral elections in Voronezh and Yekaterinburg. “We assume that that candidates nominated by United Russia or supported by United Russia will win in all […]

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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 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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Apartment Raid Leaves Navalny Supporters Baffled

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – August 15, 2013) Supporters of mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny on Wednesday were struggling to find answers over an incident that took place Tuesday evening that saw police force their way into a central Moscow apartment to seize what they said were illegal campaign materials. In a statement released Wednesday, police explained the […]

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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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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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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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