Alexei Navalny
Alexei Navalny
Alexei Anatolievich Navalnyis a Russian lawyer, political and financial activist, and politician. Since 2009, he has gained prominence in Russia, and in the Russian and international media, as a critic of corruption and of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has organized large-scale demonstrations promoting democracy and attacking political corruption, Putin, and Putin's political allies; he has run for a political office on the same platform. In 2012, The Wall Street Journal described him as "the man Vladimir Putin fears most"...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionActivist
CountryRussian Federation
Politics is traditionally a male domain in Russia.
Our political leaders often talk about Russia taking an independent path, but they like to live like people in the West.
Everyone needs to understand that my work addresses existing problems, and one of the crucial problems in Russia today is corruption.
Xenophobia is fairly widespread in Russia.
We've grown accustomed to injustice in Russia. People are constantly being arrested unlawfully.
Since Russia has the largest number of illegal immigrants, second only to the US, and immigrants from Central Asia bring in drugs, I'm calling for a visa requirement for all those wonderful people from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Politics is traditionally a male domain in Russia. Until now, women have only been accessories. Now, female protest groups are emerging - not because men came up with the idea, but through their own efforts. That's something new for Russia.
Putin and his advisers don't understand the power of public opinion in the West. They believe in conspiracy theories and that someone is orchestrating a malicious campaign against Russia. They don't realize that even conservative politicians have to react when newspapers and artists express their concern on such an issue.
When men are arrested without any legal basis and for political reasons, it's merely a routine, everyday occurrence in Russia, and hardly anyone has any sympathy.
I've been reading this little book. It's called the Russian constitution. And it says that the only source of power in Russia is the people. So I don't want to hear those who say we're appealing to the authorities. Who's the power here?
Putin has reversed all the liberalizing reforms carried out by his predecessor.
In Russia an authoritarian leader is running the country. You can't fight Putin with elections because he controls them. That's why demonstrations are the most effective approach. Unfortunately Russia has sunk to this primitive level.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev can no longer attend concerts by his favorite group Deep Purple without having to fear that the musicians will wear T-shirts with Pussy Riot written on them.
I don't know why, but Putin has made a ritual out of humiliating Medvedev. Sometimes I even feel sorry for the prime minister.