| Alexey Navalny | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 4, 1976 Butyn, Odintsovsky District, Moscow Oblast |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Alma mater | Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation Yale University |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Political and social activism, blogging |
| Website | |
| navalny.ru | |
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (Russian: Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, born June 4, 1976) is a Russian lawyer who in recent years has gained prominence amongst Russian bloggers and mass media due to his social campaigning activity. He uses his popular LiveJournal blog to organize serial large-scale petitionings by Russian citizens addressing issues mainly related to heavy corruption in Russia in accordance with Russian laws which appear to be widely ignored by top Russian officials and state-controlled businesses. He also regularly writes articles on topics he is concerned about in several top Russian mass media such as Forbes Russia. In an interview with Reuters, he warned that Vladimir Putin's tightly controlled political system is so weakened by corruption that Russia could face an Arab Spring-style revolt within five years. [1]
In 2011, the BBC has described Navalny as "arguably the only major opposition figure to emerge in Russia in the past five years"[2]. He was dubbed "Russia's Erin Brockovich" by Time magazine[3] and named Person of the Year 2009 by Vedomosti.[4] Navalny was a World Fellow at Yale University's "World Fellows Program" aimed at "creating a global network of emerging leaders and to broaden international understanding" in 2010.[5] He graduated from People's Friendship University of Russia in 2003.[6]
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In 2000, Navalny joined the Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko",[7] where he was a member of the Federal Political Council of the party. In 2002, Navalny was elected to the regional council of the Moscow branch of Yabloko.[8] In December 2007, a meeting was held by the Bureau of the "Yabloko" party, on the issue of Navalny's exclusion from the party, with demands of "the immediate resignation of party chairman and all his deputies, and the re-election of at least 70% of the Bureau."[9] Navalny was expelled from Yabloko "for causing political damage to the party; in particular, for nationalist activities."[10]
Navalny is a minor stockholder in several major Russian state-related corporations and some of his activities are aimed at making the financial properties of these companies transparent. This is required by law, but there are allegations that some of the top managers of these companies are involved in thefts and are obscuring transparency.[11] Other activities deal with wrongdoings by Russian Militsiya, such as Sergei Magnitsky's case, improper usage of state's budget funds, quality of state services and so on.
In October 2010, Navalny turned out to be an outstanding winner in virtual "Mayor of Moscow elections" held in the Russian Internet by Kommersant and Gazeta.ru. He received about 30,000 votes, or 45%, with the closest rival being "Against all candidates" with some 9,000 votes (14%) followed by Boris Nemtsov with 8,000 votes (12%) out of a total of about 67,000 votes.[12]
In November 2010, Navalny published[13] confidential documents about Transneft's auditing. He claims that the published scan is the one of original document. According to Navalny's blog, about four billion dollars were stolen by Transneft's leaders during the construction of the Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.[14][15]
In February 2011, in an interview with the radio station finam.fm, Navalny called the main Russian party, United Russia, a "party of crooks and thieves". Shortly after, a pro-party lawyer declared that some regular members of United Russia had asked him to proceed against Navalny. In May 2011, the Russian government began criminal investigation into Navalny, widely described in Western media as "revenge", and by Navalny himself as "a fabrication by the security services".[16][17][18] Meanwhile, "crooks and thieves" became a popular nickname for the party.[19]
In August 2011 Navalny publicized papers related to a scandalous real estate deal[20] between Hungarian and Russian governments.[21][22] According to the papers, Hungary sold a former embassy building in Moscow for $21mln to an offshore company of V.Vekselberg, who immediately resold it to the Russian government for $111mln. Irregularities in the paper trail implied a collusion. Hungarian officials responsible for the deal were detained in February 2011, but no investigation was started on the Russian side.
In December 2011, after parliamentary elections and accusations of electoral fraud,[23] some 6,000 gathered in Moscow to protest the fraud and some 300 were arrested including Navalny. After a period of uncertainty, Navalny was produced at court and thereafter sentenced to the maximum 15 days "for defying a government official. He plans to appeal the verdict." Alexei Venediktov called the arrest "'a political mistake: jailing Navalny transforms him from an online leader into an offline one.'"[24] Navalny was kept in the same prison as several other activists, including Ilya Yashin and Sergei Udaltsov, the unofficial leader of the Vanguard of Red Youth, a radical Russian communist youth group. Udaltsov has gone on hunger strike to protest against the conditions.[25]
Navalny was arrested December 5, 2011, convicted and sentenced to 15 days in jail. Since Navalny was arrested, his blog has become available in English.[26] On his release on December 20, Navalny called on Russians to unite against Putin whom he said would try to snatch victory in a March 4, 2012 presidential election that was sure to be unfair. [27] On December 7, President Medvedev's official Twitter account retweeted a statement by United Russia member Konstantin Rykov which claimed that "a person who writes in their blog the words 'party of crooks and thieves' is a stupid, c*cksucking sheep". This retweet was quickly deleted and described as a mistake by the Kremlin, but gained wide attention in Russia and abroad.[28]
Navalny told reporters on his release that it would be senseless for him to run in the presidential elections because the Kremlin would not allow them to be fair. But he said that if free elections were held, he would "be ready" to run. [29] He then on December 24 helped lead a demonstration much larger than the post-election one (50,000 strong, in one Western-media account), telling the "wildly cheering crowd": "I see enough people to take the Kremlin right now."[30]
After the demonstration of December, 24, Valeria Novodvorskaya, a prominent liberal Russian politician, Soviet dissident, issued a video statement [31] calling Navalny "a nazi", and warning that liberal opposition should in no circumstances organize demonstrations together with "nazies", or invite Navalny to take part.