Rounding up about 1,800 street demonstrators protesting the jailing of 44-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny, 68-year-old President Vladimir Putin let the Russian public know about protests. Incarcerated in the brutal IK-2 penal colony, once a Soviet gulag, 100 kilometers [62 miles] east of Moscow in the town of Pokrov, Navalny has gone kicking-and-screaming, using every bit of his guile to resist his two-year-eight-month prison sentence built on bogus charges. Since entering prison March 2, Navalny suddenly developed bizarre back and leg symptom, associated with ruptured spinal discs, leading him and his handlers to demand appropriate medical care. When he was given nothing special, Navalny decided to go on a life-or-death hunger strike March 31 now leaving him in a deteriorated state, prompting his private doctor Yaroslav Ashikhmin to say April 18 he could “die at any moment.”
Kremlin officials say Navalny is faking his medical problems to draw attention to the U.S. and foreign press that supports his cause. Today’s crack down on Navalny’s network spells doom for Russia’s best-known dissident since former Yukos oil billionaire Mikhail Khordoorkovsky was driven into exile. Unlike the West, especially in the U.S., where riots, looting, arson and anarchy are tolerated by authorities, street demonstrations especially calling to oust Putin are strictly illegal. When your consider the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and mob scene, the U.S. Congress and law enforcement agencies certainly prosecuted 74-year-old President Donald Trump to the fullest extent of the law. Had they been able to charge Trump with a criminal offense they would have. As it was, Trump was impeached for “incitement of insurrection,” a similar charge Russian officials have charged Navalny protesters.
When it came to Trump, there was not limit to the accusations, including that the former president incited a riot from a speech at the Capitol Jan. 6. Even when the FBI found the rabble rousers planned the Capitol attack for months, House Speaker Nancy Peolosi (D-Calif.) and nine impeachment managers accused Trump of “incitement of insurrection” for delivering a speech. “This is barbarism playing out in real time, and we cannot be silent,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), referring to Putin’s treatment of Navalny’s supporters. Would Menendez support preferential treatment for Proud Boys or Boogaloo? Pelosi’s partisan House pursued Trump with a vengeance, not much different than Putin with Navalny. Menendez had no problems with “barbarism” toward Trump, just not a known Russian revolutionary. Only in American does the hypocrisy reign supreme, especially about Trump.
Contrary to Navalny’s expectations, today’s demonstrations were far lower than his handlers’ expected, with some 10,000 to 15,000 demonstrated in Moscow, maybe another 6,000 in St. Petersburg, not the hundreds-of-thousands predicted by Navalny’s chief of staff Leonid Volkov. Navalny’s PR team has been manufacturing lies about his medical condition since he entered the IK-2 penal colony, claiming his bad back and leg pain weren’t properly treated, prompting the 44-year-old dissident to go on a hunger strike March 31. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Mskalkova said that Navalny was evaluated by four physicians outside the prison system, finding no serious health problems. Navalny’s PR team told the U.S. and foreign press that Navalny was on death’s door, prompting calls from 78-year-old President Joe Biden that Navalny be released from prison..
U.N. human rights officials said that Navalny should be sent abroad for medical treatment, knowing that he’s serving out a two-year-eight-moth prison sentence. U.N. officials said Navalny was being held in “condition that could amount to torture,” pressuring Russian authorities to release him from prison. Where foreign officials think they can meddle in Russia’s internal affairs with Navalny is anyone’s guess. Navalny’s PR offensive has resulted in the press writing daily stories about his medical condition inside a Russian penal colony. Today’s protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg resulted in mass arrests for violating rules related to public demonstrations. “Freedom for political prisoners” and “No war, repressions and torture,” read signs in Vladivostok, demanding Navalny’s release. Navalny’s handlers promised mass demonstrations around Russia, something that didn’t materialize.
Running a sophisticated media campaign, Navalny’s handlers have whipped up a media maelstrom around the world, all built on unverified reports about his deteriorating health. If Russia’s human rights Czar is correct, Navalny’s medical condition has been grossly exaggerated to exploit the foreign press. “Everyone realizes the current authorities have nothing new to propose for the country. We need a new generation of politicians. I see Navalny as one of them,” said Ilya, a 19-year-old student in far eastern city of Vladivostok. Quoting a 19-year-old tells the media’s fake narrative that ordinary Russians seek to oust Putin from power. Quoting a student like Ilya shows the desperation of the media to promote the fake narrative that Navalny has universal support in Russia. Whatever the crack down today by Russian authorities, it’s clear that ordinary Russians still support Putin.
