Excerpt from the movie "Navalny" by Daniel Rohr, 2022
Watch an excerpt from the 2022 documentary "Navalny" featured his message to Russians in case of his death.
On February 16 2024, Alexey Navalny, a notable Russian blogger, corruption fighter, Kremlin critic, and Opposition Leader, died in an Arctic Russian jail under a 19-year sentence.
In 2021, Navalny returned to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for Novichok poisoning. Navalnvy was arrested immediately on seemingly political allegations. His popularity had grown rapidly, and many see him as Russia's next president.
Alexei Navalny, obtained a law degree and earned a master's in finance to trade stocks. He studied at Yale's business school, worked with law experts, and learnt about American politics on a six-month scholarship in 2010. He blogged at Yale and released his most shocking leak.
Someone may wonder if his blogging was productive. Answer: “Yes.” Navalny persevered in combating Russian corruption. In 2010, he released shocking details of a $4 billion state corporation embezzlement scandal on his blog before launching RosPil in 2010. Later that year, he and his colleagues canceled $1.2 billion in state contracts. Site name: 'Russian Saw'. The term “saw” (Russian “пилa”) refers to the practice of “sawing off” a contract, which is often seen as a cost of doing business in Russia. Navalny highlighted why average shareholders should study tender documents on his blog, in addition to asserting corrupt bureaucrats exist.
RosYama, or “Russian Pit,” was his second project to persuade authorities to rehabilitate Russian roads. Russian city residents were asked to upload photos of potholes and road bumps.
The educated and skilled blogger and political activist was a significant presence during Moscow's post-election rallies in 2012-2014. One financial analyst called Navalny “Sancho Panza or Don Quixote of our time,” and he is open about his political ambitions. He united the opposition by calling for “nationalists, liberals, leftists, vegetarians, greens, Martians” to protest. Putin never named Navalny, instead calling him "that person" or something else to downplay him.
However, he was dismissed from Yabloko in 2007 for speaking with neo-Nazis and skinheads. He appeared in a video comparing dark-skinned Caucasus militants to insects. He addressed concerns like the excessive budget money provided to Chechnya and other Caucasus republics at nationalist fan events with slogans like "It's enough to feed Caucasus" that were considered "pure nationalism." After Russia's 2014 illegal invasion of Crimea, many have accused him of ambiguity. Despite condemning Putin's takeover of Crimea, Navalny maintained that the peninsula had no Ukrainian future.
Yet, Navalny vigorously opposed Putin's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 in social media posts from prison and during his court appearances. According to Nevada Center, Navalny's popularity rose from 40% in 2013 to 65% in 2016; and in polls in July 2021 and February 2022 verified the 85% recognition rate. However, a 2023 January Levada Center poll found that only 9% of respondents liked Alexei Navalny, 57% disapproved of his activity, and 23% had never heard of him. One may call it a paradox of war time public opinion in Russia.