Alexey Navalny appreciation thread

Text-only Version: Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.



SamZED
I realize that his story isn't relevant for most people on this forum, but I want to share it anyway because it would make an epic movie one day.

Alexey is a Russian opposition leader aka "some unknown blogger nobody cares about" according to the Kremlin. At least that used to be the case. For years he was banned from appearing on television and Putin went out of his way to not mention his name even when asked directly about him. Today the government spends millions of dollars trying to smear his name and to label him a next Hitler and a CIA agent who wants to destroy our prosperous state, our noble ways and to turn Russia into a country that is ran exclusively by homosexuals (just like US and EU, obviously). That's not an exaggeration btw. That is literally what's being said on the federal channels.

For those who's missed the story here's the short version:

Alexey and his team (FBK) spent years exposing corruption among Russia's high ranking officials. Several times the government's tried to put him in jail on fabricated charges. The FBK offices get raided by the police on a monthly basis. Alexey tried to register his political party on many occasions but was banned from participating in Russia's political life.

Fast forward to last August. Alexey loses consciousness on a plane. He ends up in a coma and is transported to Germany where doctors descover traces of Russian nerve toxin in his blood, the same kind that was used in Britain several years ago to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter. As it is always the case with assasination attempts on Russian opposition leaders, the Minsitry of Interior Affairs refused to conduct an investigation. Believe it or not, Russian doctors claim that Alexey's condition was a result of digestive problems. Side note, the doctor in charge of his "tratment" in Russia received a promotion shortly after making that public statement. Another doctor from that clinic that worked with Navalny died of a heart attack several days ago (aged 55), it's too fresh so I will skip this part to avoid getting into conspiracy theories.

Alexey survived and claimed that Putin is personally responsible for the assasination attempt. While in Germany Navalny joined forced with investigators from Bellingcat (the same people who uncovered FSB assasins in Britain) and together they published an investigation proving that a group of FSB agents and chemists from government institutions have been tailing Navalny for years. Literally flying from city to city after him during his campaigning and following him to his hotels (Belingcat published their identities, flight information, phone billings and their links to FSB etc.).

Rather than denying it as they used to in the past Putin (to everyone's surprise) in an interview pretty much confirmed that they are indeed FSB agents that were tasked with tailing Navalny because he is a CIA asset. But according to Putin they were just tailing him, obviously they had nothing to do with what happened to him on the plane. Which doesn't really explain why FSB needed chemists following him but ok.

After Putin's interview Navalny posts another video thanking the president for confirming the ties of these people to FSB but jokingly reprimands him for lying about their real objective. To Putin's surprise he and Belingcat release another video, a recording of a phone call between one of these FSB agents and Navalny himself posing as a high ranking official. In that phone call the FSB agent pretty much confirms that they were specifically tasked with killing Navalny but failed because of pilot's quick thinking and interference from paramedics. Seriously, the whole conversation is on youtube with english subtitles, feel free to look it up.

I guess that was the last straw for Putin. Kremlin responded by opening an old fabricated case against Alexey, saying that he failed to meet with his parole officers during the time he was in a coma in Germany. For the record, this old case was deemed unjustified back when it first started by the Eurpean Human Rights Court, and Alexey even receieved a compensation from Russia. Didn't stop Russia from putting Alexey on a wanted list because of that same case. It was a clear warning for him not to come back to Russia.

Despite that Alexey immediately announced that he is coming back to Russia. He announced the time and the date of his arrival and said that he is coming back on a Russian airline called "Victory", I assume as a personal FU to Putin. Everyone tried to talk him out of it saying that he'll be detained upon arrival and put in prison, but he insisted.

On January 17th Navalny boarded the plane headed to Moscow's Vnukovo airport. Hundreds of Navalny's supporters gathered near the airport to meet him. The police started violently detaining people and the Airport announced that due to a "broken snow plow" they will not be able to receive the plane. At the last second they changed the flight's trajectory to a different airport and closed the roads from Vnukovo to prevent his supporters from following him to the other airport. To nobody's surprised Navalny was met at the border by the police officers and taken away after kissing his wife good bye.

It seemed like a crazy plan, getting oneself arrested, but here's the thing. At this point all of Russia and to a lesser degree the world was following Navalny's story, his assasination attempt and selfless return to Russia. Only pro-Kremlin journalists were allowed to attend his trial. Alexey's lawyer was warned about it 30 minutes before it began. What's crazier instead of taking Alexey to the court they literally brought a judge to the police station to get it over with as quickly and as quitely as possible. Of course it ended up attracting even more attention to his case. That's where Navalny's motives became clear.

After his detention, Alexey's team published another video. An hour + long investigation into Putin's own corruption. His bribes, his multi-billion palace built on tax-payers money. Before that all of Navalny's investigations were viewed by a small minority of people. Most citizens bought into Kremlin's propoganda against him. But now, with all of the attention that Kremlin granted him... the investigation into Putin's palace become the most viewed video in Russia. At this moment it has been viewed over 110 million times. Programs released by Kremlin's propoganda channels can't dream of such ratings. All these events caused massive protests all over Russia (including cities that never protested before). Which seemed to be Navalny's plan from the moment he regained counciousness after the assasination attempt.

To sum up, I have no delusions about Putin leaving the office in the near future. The protests were violently shut down by the police and Putin's personal army. People were detained, beaten. Navalny is in jail and Kremlin's propoganda are doing their best to smear his name, which is sad. But here's why all these events make me happy. At the end of the day, Alexey succeeded in what he was trying to do. It used to be that most people hated the government, but they either loved Putin or were to affraid to speak out against him. Now, for the very first time in decades Putin's reputation is destroyed. More and more people stop being apolitical. Which makes it harder to rig elections. Which is worse, he's become a laughing stock. You can't go anywhere now without hearing people mocking him, his stupid palace with golden toilets, hookah lounges and strip poles. You can feel that people aren't affraid to laugh at him any more. He's now known as "Vladimir the poisoner of underpants" among people. That's going to be his legacy. A nightmare for someone who cares so much about preserving his image. Lastly, because of Navalny Russia's relations with EU and States are worse than ever. New sanctions are coming. The country's stupidly moving towards total isolation which makes people more frustrated every day. Putin might not be out of office tomorrow or the next year, but it's definitely a matter of time now.

Raptor22
When i heard he was flying back a few weeks ago i assumed that it was the going to be the last time anyone ever heard from him again.

I had no idea about the video or the protest after but im glad things are looking up for u guys.

ArtificialGlory
Very few people in the Kremlin die a natural death and Putin will likely be no different, so we can at least take comfort in that. Though I fear that Navalny will not make it out of this alive, either.

Trocity
No mention of Trump?

Disappointing.

Robtard
Originally posted by SamZED
I realize that his story isn't relevant for most people on this forum, but I want to share it anyway because it would make an epic movie one day.

Alexey is a Russian opposition leader aka "some unknown blogger nobody cares about" according to the Kremlin. At least that used to be the case. For years he was banned from appearing on television and Putin went out of his way to not mention his name even when asked directly about him. Today the government spends millions of dollars trying to smear his name and to label him a next Hitler and a CIA agent who wants to destroy our prosperous state, our noble ways and to turn Russia into a country that is ran exclusively by homosexuals (just like US and EU, obviously). That's not an exaggeration btw. That is literally what's being said on the federal channels.

For those who's missed the story here's the short version:

Alexey and his team (FBK) spent years exposing corruption among Russia's high ranking officials. Several times the government's tried to put him in jail on fabricated charges. The FBK offices get raided by the police on a monthly basis. Alexey tried to register his political party on many occasions but was banned from participating in Russia's political life.

Fast forward to last August. Alexey loses consciousness on a plane. He ends up in a coma and is transported to Germany where doctors descover traces of Russian nerve toxin in his blood, the same kind that was used in Britain several years ago to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter. As it is always the case with assasination attempts on Russian opposition leaders, the Minsitry of Interior Affairs refused to conduct an investigation. Believe it or not, Russian doctors claim that Alexey's condition was a result of digestive problems. Side note, the doctor in charge of his "tratment" in Russia received a promotion shortly after making that public statement. Another doctor from that clinic that worked with Navalny died of a heart attack several days ago (aged 55), it's too fresh so I will skip this part to avoid getting into conspiracy theories.

Alexey survived and claimed that Putin is personally responsible for the assasination attempt. While in Germany Navalny joined forced with investigators from Bellingcat (the same people who uncovered FSB assasins in Britain) and together they published an investigation proving that a group of FSB agents and chemists from government institutions have been tailing Navalny for years. Literally flying from city to city after him during his campaigning and following him to his hotels (Belingcat published their identities, flight information, phone billings and their links to FSB etc.).

Rather than denying it as they used to in the past Putin (to everyone's surprise) in an interview pretty much confirmed that they are indeed FSB agents that were tasked with tailing Navalny because he is a CIA asset. But according to Putin they were just tailing him, obviously they had nothing to do with what happened to him on the plane. Which doesn't really explain why FSB needed chemists following him but ok.

After Putin's interview Navalny posts another video thanking the president for confirming the ties of these people to FSB but jokingly reprimands him for lying about their real objective. To Putin's surprise he and Belingcat release another video, a recording of a phone call between one of these FSB agents and Navalny himself posing as a high ranking official. In that phone call the FSB agent pretty much confirms that they were specifically tasked with killing Navalny but failed because of pilot's quick thinking and interference from paramedics. Seriously, the whole conversation is on youtube with english subtitles, feel free to look it up.

I guess that was the last straw for Putin. Kremlin responded by opening an old fabricated case against Alexey, saying that he failed to meet with his parole officers during the time he was in a coma in Germany. For the record, this old case was deemed unjustified back when it first started by the Eurpean Human Rights Court, and Alexey even receieved a compensation from Russia. Didn't stop Russia from putting Alexey on a wanted list because of that same case. It was a clear warning for him not to come back to Russia.

Despite that Alexey immediately announced that he is coming back to Russia. He announced the time and the date of his arrival and said that he is coming back on a Russian airline called "Victory", I assume as a personal FU to Putin. Everyone tried to talk him out of it saying that he'll be detained upon arrival and put in prison, but he insisted.

On January 17th Navalny boarded the plane headed to Moscow's Vnukovo airport. Hundreds of Navalny's supporters gathered near the airport to meet him. The police started violently detaining people and the Airport announced that due to a "broken snow plow" they will not be able to receive the plane. At the last second they changed the flight's trajectory to a different airport and closed the roads from Vnukovo to prevent his supporters from following him to the other airport. To nobody's surprised Navalny was met at the border by the police officers and taken away after kissing his wife good bye.

It seemed like a crazy plan, getting oneself arrested, but here's the thing. At this point all of Russia and to a lesser degree the world was following Navalny's story, his assasination attempt and selfless return to Russia. Only pro-Kremlin journalists were allowed to attend his trial. Alexey's lawyer was warned about it 30 minutes before it began. What's crazier instead of taking Alexey to the court they literally brought a judge to the police station to get it over with as quickly and as quitely as possible. Of course it ended up attracting even more attention to his case. That's where Navalny's motives became clear.

After his detention, Alexey's team published another video. An hour + long investigation into Putin's own corruption. His bribes, his multi-billion palace built on tax-payers money. Before that all of Navalny's investigations were viewed by a small minority of people. Most citizens bought into Kremlin's propoganda against him. But now, with all of the attention that Kremlin granted him... the investigation into Putin's palace become the most viewed video in Russia. At this moment it has been viewed over 110 million times. Programs released by Kremlin's propoganda channels can't dream of such ratings. All these events caused massive protests all over Russia (including cities that never protested before). Which seemed to be Navalny's plan from the moment he regained counciousness after the assasination attempt.

To sum up, I have no delusions about Putin leaving the office in the near future. The protests were violently shut down by the police and Putin's personal army. People were detained, beaten. Navalny is in jail and Kremlin's propoganda are doing their best to smear his name, which is sad. But here's why all these events make me happy. At the end of the day, Alexey succeeded in what he was trying to do. It used to be that most people hated the government, but they either loved Putin or were to affraid to speak out against him. Now, for the very first time in decades Putin's reputation is destroyed. More and more people stop being apolitical. Which makes it harder to rig elections. Which is worse, he's become a laughing stock. You can't go anywhere now without hearing people mocking him, his stupid palace with golden toilets, hookah lounges and strip poles. You can feel that people aren't affraid to laugh at him any more. He's now known as "Vladimir the poisoner of underpants" among people. That's going to be his legacy. A nightmare for someone who cares so much about preserving his image. Lastly, because of Navalny Russia's relations with EU and States are worse than ever. New sanctions are coming. The country's stupidly moving towards total isolation which makes people more frustrated every day. Putin might not be out of office tomorrow or the next year, but it's definitely a matter of time now.

I know it sounds pessimistic, but I fear he's going to end up dying of "natural causes" or committing suicide by shooting himself twice in the back of the head. Such is the way with people who oppose Putin.

NicolasTurner
When i heard he was flying back a few weeks ago i assumed that it was the going to be the last time anyone ever heard from him again.

SamZED
That'd make him a martyr, can't allow that. Not until they've ruined his reputation. They've already compared him Hitler on the federal channels and concluded that Hitler was a better man. Seriously.

https://www.worldin.news/32078/2021/02/soloviev-called-hitler-a-very-brave-man.html
"TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov in his program made an ambiguous statement about Adolf Hitler. Talking about the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, he compared him with the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, and the comparison was not in favor of the Russian".

Problem is noone in Russia is buying that crap.

rudester
Holiday hoody whatty?

ilikecomics
https://youtu.be/kHgI6um1BMc

IrvingKaise
Free Navalny
Bide should pressure Putin more
Last speech was good

Blakemore
****ing hell, tl;dr

Text-only Version: Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.