The Attempted Assassination of Alexei Navalny

 by Manon Francis-Braconi

Navalny at a protest in Moscow
(image: Evgeny Feldman) 

Normally, if an assassination attempt occurred against a leader of the opposition of prominent and developed country such as Russia, the world would be talking about it. However, in current times, the news consists of Coronavirus, Brexit, the failing American democracy, and little else. A more cynical reason could be the willingness of other countries to stay out of domestic Russian affairs. However, on the 20th August 2020, Alexei Navalny, an influential critic of Vladimir Putin, was poisoned mid-flight whilst returning from Siberia. It is thought that the poison was administered via the drink served onboard the flight. The toxin meant to take his life was subsequently identified as a new version of Novichok, a class of military grade nerve agent, similar to that used on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018. 

Navalny had been campaigning for politicians running in upcoming Russian Local Elections and was returning to Moscow from a trip to support candidates when he fell ill mid-flight. After making an emergency landing at Omsk, he was then transferred to Charite Hospital in Berlin where he was put into an induced coma for 3 weeks. The incident was dubbed an attempted murder by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited Navalny whilst in hospital, calling on the Russian authorities to explain themselves. 

Who is Alexei Navalny? 

Nalvany got his start in politics as a member of the liberal Yablok opposition party in 2000 but was later expelled for nationalist activities. From 2006 to 2008, he was involved with far-right groups known for their nationalist beliefs, and this along with his anti-immigrant views and insistence to never leave his homeland made it difficult for the Kremlin to portray him as a ‘Western Puppet’, despite being the most approved-of Putin critic by the West. In 2011, he founded the Anti-Corruption Federation, which was dedicated to exposing corruption by Russian officials- among those investigated was former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In 2013 he ran for Mayor of Moscow but lost to Sergei Soybarin, a Putin ally, however he did significantly better than expected, certifying his status as an influential political opponent. 

In 2017, the largest anti-government protest Russia had seen in years took place, triggered by the Anti-Corruption Federation’s investigation into then PM Medvedev. Navalny had a leading role in the protest and was arrested along with over a thousand other demonstrators. In 2012, Navalny founded the political party known currently as Russia of the Future, known originally as the Progress Party and formerly as the People’s Alliance. Despite this, the party does not have any seats in the State Duma (the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia) or the Regional Parliaments (legislative/parliamentary bodies of power in the regions of Russia), meaning he has never held public office, unlike fellow opposition leader Boris Nenstrov, who was assassinated in February 2015. Due to a 2014 conviction of corruption, Navalny was barred from running for President in 2018 and in 2019 was jailed for a brief period for encouraging a protest calling for free elections. 

What happens now? 

The Kremlin (the executive branch of the Russian Government) has refused to investigate the poisoning, and the willingness to break relations with the EU and Germany over this all but confirms Putin’s involvement. Navalny himself argues that Putin’s motives behind the attack include trying to prevent him from mobilising voters against Putin’s ruling party United Russia. It was reported on 16 January that Navalny would be returning to Russia, facing a new round of criminal charges and vulnerable to Russia’s domestic spy agency the FSB, which Navalny has accused of carrying out the attack. Putin himself has joked that if the FSB were responsible, they would have 'finished the job', raising fears for Navalny’s safety on his return.