generalspeaking

Vladimir Putin in His Crosshairs ... Defending Alexi Navalny

"Our entire investigation is about Putin using his best friends to hide his assets. In response, the Kremlin shows Rotenberg and declares him the owner of the palace." 

"They think that they are saving the situation, but in fact they are doing the exact opposite."

Maria Pevchikh, one of the investigation's authors

 

"Of course, they are giving me 14 days not for tweets and retweets, but for the fact that the video about Putin's palace has become so popular."

"Because so many people took to the streets. Because I'm dating [Georgy -- Anti-Corruption Foundation investigator Georgy Alburov, one of the filmmakers of the documentary that investigated the Black Sea property]."

Anna Vellikok, Anti-Corruption Foundation member

 

"The fact that Anna Vellikok is now being tormented the same way as Oleg Navalny was has been driving me crazy."

"They are just family members of those who dared to jump at Putin personally and talk about his palace built on bribes. How is this not 1937? [the height of purges led by Joseph Stalin]."

Inga Kudracheva, HR manager based in Moscow

A policeman detains a man while protesters try to help him, during a protest in St. Petersburg on Sunday against the detention of opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

Once again, tens of thousands of Russians were out on the streets Sunday demanding Alexei Navalny be released despite a security lockdown unusual in its severity. Protests erupted in dozens of Russian cities from east to west in support of the jailed opposition leader, the vast numbers challenging the threat of prosecutions by government. Last week the figure of those arrested came to 4,000 and room couldn't be found to house them in detention centres; many had to sleep in the back of police vans overnight.

Yesterday, an increase of a thousand people, making for a total of 5,000 protesters were arrested by riot police as they chased protesters through Moscow streets and protesters and police engaged in standoffs in St.Petersburg. Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya was one of those detained, though she was later released. The fury of protesters had she been imprisoned would have been explosive.

With the capital blocked off, Moscow protesters formed a huge column to march to the train station. People were there, they told interviewers because they'd "had enough" of endemic government corruption. "Intimidation works. A lot of people were too scared to go out. Authorities see that they can jail people and not worry about higher numbers", said Tatyana Stanovaya, head of the R.Politik political analysis firm. 

"What we're seeing right now is just a small fraction of those who are unhappy, but they're too scared to come out" said Yelena, 52, taking part in the first protest in her life, because she'd "had enough". What tipped them over the edge was the video released by Navalny after his arrest claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the owner of a billion-dollar property on the Black Sea coast. Over 100 million people had viewed the video on YouTube.

Demonstrators take part in an unauthorised protest Sunday in support of Navalny in central Novosibirsk

"I've always been the typical passive opposition supporter but you reach the point when you can't take it any longer."

"When they're trying to kill a person and then put him in jail -- that was the red line for me."

Ksenia, 40, auditor, Moscow

Protesters were chased by riot police onto the ice of the frozen Amur Bay in Vladivostok by riot police, the protesters chanting "my Russia is in prison!". In St.Petersburg thousands of riot police blocked off Palace Square and the Nevsky Prospekt main street while protesters marched on adjacent streets, clapping, while police stood in formation blocking roads. 

Police arrest a man in Vladivostok on Sunday

Labels: Alexei Navalny, Black Sea Mansion Video, Protests, Russia, Vladimir Putin

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, February 02, 2021