Alexei Navalny’s team announced on Tuesday the reactivation of the political movement of the currently detained opposition, comprising a huge network of offices across Russia that was declared “extremist” in 2021 and banned by Russian justice.
“Tens of thousands of people in Russia and Ukraine have already died, and if nothing is done now, hundreds of thousands more will die. We will do everything we can to prevent this.”Navalny’s team said on his page on the instant messaging platform Telegram.
Navalny is recognized as one of the main opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During Navalny’s campaign for the 2018 presidential election, the opposition created a large regional network with “dozens of offices across the country and thousands of volunteers,” recalled the allies of the imprisoned opposition, who work mainly from exile due to persecution.
“A year ago, Putin, preparing for war, decided to destroy all this. But now we are back! We are going to face Putin and his bloody war with Ukraine. So let’s rebuild a network of contacts all over Russia.”they announced.
On June 10, 2021, the Russian legal system banned several Navalny-affiliated organizations, including his political movement, the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK) and the Fund for the Protection of Citizens’ Rights (FZPG), declaring them “extremists”. “.
Navalny himself decided on April 29 of that year to bring forward the court decision and dissolve the network of offices in order to protect his employees from criminal prosecution.
Ivan Zhdanov, exiled former director of the FBK, explained in a video on Tuesday that the movement will now be reactivated because “it is clear that the time has come when a large number of civilians in Russia are threatened by a huge threat to their lives”.
“They’re calling a lot of people into the ranks of an army where, mathematically speaking, the probability of death is very high. This affects many, a majority who were sadly passive for a long time… and who are now beginning to write to us and ask ‘what can do?'” he said.
“It seemed the most logical to us, because we have a network, experience and we know how to do it,” Zhdanov added.
The Russian opposition leader’s team published a form to select new volunteers for the movement under the slogan “no war, no mobilization, freedom for Navalny”.
“We need everyone: artists, lawyers, ‘hackers’ or just people who want to print and deliver flyers. Anyone who understands that they now have to do their part to help others.”explained Navalny’s team.
“No matter where you are or what you know how to do, there is something for everyone. You can distribute information, provide legal assistance, create brochures, sabotage government websites or military registration and recruitment agencies,” Putin’s opponents said.
And they also promised: “If you are in Russia, you do not have to announce publicly that you have joined us or even tell your friends. We are determined not to disclose the details of people who help us”.
When Navalny decided to dissolve his network of offices, he announced that he would not give up.
“What does it matter what they call us? We are not a name, not a piece of paper, not an office. We are a group of people who unite and organize the citizens of Russia who are against corruption, we fight for fair courts and equality of all for the law”said the Russian dissident.
Navalny suffered a serious poisoning in Russia in 2020 for which the Kremlin is responsible.
In January 2021, after a period of recovery in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia and was to be detained immediately.
Earlier this year, Navalny was sentenced on political grounds to nine years in prison on charges of fraud and contempt of court.
Source: DN
