The Russian opposition leader. Fighter against corruption. He survived an assassination attempt. Prisoner.
Alexei Navalny’s crusade against the Kremlin brought him many labels.
And with the worldview now focused on Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his brutal invasion of Ukraine, Navalny’s message of resistance is gaining new weight inside and outside Russia, even as he remains behind bars.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,” he said, echoing a famous quote of unknown origin in CNN’s new film Navalny, which premiered this Sunday, April 24, at 9 p.m. o’clock. ET on CNN. “So don’t be idle.”
Here’s what you need to know about Navalny’s political rise, assassination attempt and Russia’s future:
Navalny’s rise to prominence first gained prominence in 2008 when he began blogging about alleged corruption in Russian state-owned companies. Until 2011, he emerged as one of the leaders of the mass protests that erupted after allegations of fraud in the parliamentary elections.
“Those who have gathered here may kick these thieving assholes ***** out of the Kremlin tomorrow,” Navalny told a 2011 protest.
In July 2013, he posted his first video on YouTube, a step-by-step guide showing how to build an “agitation cube”, a tent structure similar to a box with his image decorated on the side. The video marked the beginning of the Russian dissident. the campaign to be elected mayor of Moscow and the humble beginning of his YouTube revolution.
But his movement was blunted when he was convicted of embezzlement just as he was preparing to run for mayor. Navalny denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated. A retrial in 2017 barred him from running for public office, this time for president against Putin.
While Navalny is best known as an activist, his investigations have been the biggest thorn in the side of some of Russia’s most influential people. His videos of the apparent inexplicable wealth of senior government officials have angered the Kremlin.
A video of former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev garnered more than 35 million views on YouTube.
But with the increased results came the increased risks. In March 2017, this video sparked the biggest anti-government protests Russia has seen in years. Thousands joined rallies in nearly 100 cities in Russia. Navalny himself was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days.
The following month, he was sprayed with antiseptic green paint, which damaged his vision in one eye.
“Listen, I have something very obvious to tell you. You are not allowed to give up. If they decide to kill me, it means we are incredibly strong,” Navalny told supporters in the CNN film.
“We have to use this power, not give up, remember that we are a huge force that is suppressed by these bad guys. We don’t realize how strong we really are, “he continued.
Poisoning and recovery By 2020, there were signs that the ground was shifting under Navalny’s opposition movement.
The Kremlin has taken a more public confrontational stance against its main critic, culminating in accusations of attempted poisoning in August of that year.
Navalny began to feel unwell on the return flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk. A loud moan is heard in the videos, apparently recorded from the flight he took. Another video, apparently recorded through the window of the plane, shows a motionless man being carried on a stretcher on wheels to an ambulance.
Navalny was treated at a hospital in Berlin, and the German government later concluded that he had been poisoned by a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.
A joint investigation by CNN and the Bellingcat group involved the Russian Security Service (FSB) in Navalny’s poisoning, bringing together an elite agency in the agency to follow Navalny’s team on a trip to Siberia when Navalny fell ill from contact with Novichok.
The investigation also found that the unit, which includes chemical weapons experts, has tracked Navalny on more than 30 trips to and from Moscow since 2017. Russia denies involvement in Navalny’s poisoning. Putin himself said in December that if Russia’s security services wanted to kill Navalny, they “would have done the job.”
However, several Western officials and Navalny himself have openly blamed the Kremlin.
“It’s impossible to believe. It’s kind of silly that the whole idea of chemical weapons poisoning, what the hell?” says Navalny in the new CNN film. “That’s why it’s so clever, because even sensible people refuse to believe, like: what? Come on … poisonous? Seriously?”
The news that Navalny is seriously ill has sent a new wave of shock to Russian society, drawing alarming parallels with some of Russia’s more brazen political assassinations in the recent past.
Western governments, independent researchers and Russian observers have noted a persistent pattern of Russian involvement in the killings, both in Russia and abroad.
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