Opinions

[OPINION] Alexei Navalny: The Fake Champion of Russian Democracy

Vladimir Putin’s life-long opponent, Alexei Navalny, returned to Russia earlier this January after spending several months in Berlin, due to an assassination attempt on his life ordered by the Russian regime. For a long time now, Navalny has been called the best hope for liberalisation that Russia has. His sentencing to two and a half years of prison upon his return has further cemented this position, with protests erupting both in Russia and abroad.

Unquestionably, this sentence is yet more proof that the Russian State under Vladimir Putin’s presidency is nothing but a ruthless dictatorship which stomps on virtually everyone that dares oppose it. However, it doesn’t mean that Alexei Navalny would be a much better alternative for Russia in any regard. In fact, many of Navalny’s political stances should raise red flags for Russian and Western observers alike.

Navalny’s Political Ideology

On paper, an uninformed observer may point at the amorphous Russian Communist Party as the main opposition to the Russian regime. Indeed, the party holds the dubious honour of being the second-largest political party in Russia with its 43 out of 450 seats in the State Duma. Reality, however, shows a much different picture.

By virtue of being consistently suppressed by the government and being more appealing to the Russian youth than the Russian Communist Party, the title of main opposition party undoubtedly goes to the social-liberal Yabloko. Protesters have rallied around this party like a beacon of hope and it is not unusual to see the Yabloko’s flag during protests and anti-governmental rallies. It is not surprising, then, that it was the only non-system party which managed to secure multiple seats in Moscow’s 2019 local election, despite the standard electoral fraud by the Russian regime.

Navalny himself was, in the early days, involved with Yabloko. However, he was expelled in 2007 for his far-right views. That same year, he then went on to co-found a new political movement called The People, which allied itself with two other ethnic nationalist groups called Movement Against Illegal Immigration and Great Russia. All these groups were characterised not only by their zealous nationalism but also by a generalised unsatisfaction with Putin’s leadership, which was considered “too weak”.

Russian protesters in 2019. Protests happened before the local elections of September, in which Yabloko secured seats despite electoral fraud committed by the regime. The Yabloko flag is present, amongst others.

But Navalny’s links to the far-right go beyond mere association. Since the first edition in 2006, he has been involved in the yearly Russian March, a gathering of far-right nationalists from all political groups. He has routinely been accused of using racial slurs and basing his relations with people on their ethnicity. Most concerningly, his foreign policy doesn’t mark any significant departure from the status quo.

In the past, Navalny has stated his support for Russian presence in Ukraine, notably stating that “Russia should strive for the integration of Belarus and Ukraine” and claiming that they are a part of Russia and form only one country together. While he criticised Russia’s policy in Ukraine – because it was led by Vladimir Putin’s government – he has been remarkably silent about his criticism on the annexation of Crimea in itself. When asked about possibly returning it to Ukraine if he was ever to lead Russia, he confirmed that his government would not start such a procedure.

When it comes to the Caucasus, his track record is even more appalling. He supported Russia in its war against Georgia in 2008, going as far as calling for all Georgians to be expelled from Russia. In a recording of a pro-gun rights video around the same time, he also compared people from Russia’s mostly Muslim North Caucasus to “cockroaches” and mimicked shooting one. His efforts were crowned by the ardent endorsement of the nationalist campaign “Stop Feeding the Caucasus”, in which he called for an end to the federal subsidies for the poor, ethnic minority-populated autonomous regions in the south of the country.

A Moderate Turn?

Despite never retracting many of his controversial statements, in recent years Navalny’s inflammatory rhetoric has mellowed out. His attention has turned primarily to another one of his special interests: the fight against corruption and authoritarianism in his country. His dabbling in journalism, through which he uncovered many high-profile investigations against State-owned companies, served to launch him well beyond his far-right niche and propelled him as a Russian opposition hero in Western media. The most recent assassination attempt has cemented this distorted legacy of a “champion of democracy” fighting for the rule of law in Russia.

This image couldn’t be farther from the truth. His attempts to seem more moderate now are simply a consequence of his desire to garner more sympathy from the West. He is not interested in being a “champion of democracy” as much as he is interested in preserving Russian integrity. If he has been more discreet about his – really important – ties with nationalist groups, it is probably only to enjoy the support that the West has been giving him.

There is a reason why Navalny isn’t really liked by significant parts of the Russian opposition. Though he makes better attempts to hide them, he has the same authoritarian tendencies as Putin. It would be absolutely foolish to think the Russian Constitution and democracy would be better off with him in charge. Nor would he be any more friendly towards the West than Putin is right now.

Navalny isn’t the best hope for Russia, but merely another side to the Russian autocracy with a “reformer” label that he knows how to use. Unlike the way in which he is pictured in Western media, he doesn’t represent the entirety of the Russian opposition in and of himself, but rather he is merely one opponent amongst others. He should not be getting all the spotlight, or in fact any at all.

Russian nationalists during the Russian March in Moscow, 2011.
Russian nationalists during the Russian March in Moscow, 2011.

If Not Navalny, Who Else?

For those looking in, the real question then becomes: if we don’t shine a spotlight on Navalny, the public face of Russian opposition to the regime, who else should we shine the spotlight on? The question is not as simple as it may seem.

It would be wrong to assume that everyone who voices support for him in Russia is backing him for all his positions. This is especially the case in recent years, as Navalny has indeed presented himself as a moderate. His work on exposing corruption remains fundamental to the democratic progress of Russia as a whole. At the same time, however, the people he has worked with, in particular the Russian ultranationalists, are not personalities that are keen to uphold the rule of law or ensure basic democratic freedoms.

For this reason, it is important not to conflate the struggle of Russian opposition about the rule of law and democracy merely with Navalny. The focus has to be less on him and more on individuals from civil society, opposition mayors or people in elected positions, and so on. Through Western media, we should promote more groups like Yabloko and the ultra pro-western Republican Party of Russia, which have been doing important work in this respect, and the legacy of people like Boris Nemtsov, former Deputy Premier assassinated in 2015, who is still today an important symbol of pro-democracy protesters in Russia.

The hopes of a lot of people are pinned on a regime change that will finally bring an end to Putin’s reign. It may seem easy to support Navalny in this respect, if only because he clearly and outspokenly opposes Putin himself. However, supporting someone with his own, different brand of autocracy could prove to be a critical short-term mistake, one dangerous to the West as much as it is to the democratic aspirations of the Russian people. 

Tags

Josselin Pérouse

Student of history and geopolitics, language-lover and strong believer that humankind can do good. Likes to write alternate history and explore the world of "What ifs"

Related Articles

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button
Close
Close