The most striking failures of the Russian opposition in 2020 were published, the first place in the ranking was taken by the fake phone conversation between blogger Aleksey Navalny and the alleged “FSB employee” Konstantin Kudryavtsev.
“Ridus“, with reference to the Telegram channel “Foundation of Money with Corruption“, notes that the entire conversation between Navalny and Kudryavtsev is presented as being decisive in the case of the “poisoning” of the blogger, but the conversation is full of inconsistencies and chronological contradictions. So, Kudryavtsev for 50 minutes of conversation was not able to recognise the voice of Navalny; in addition, in the conversation, the “FSB officer” repeats everything that the opposition has repeatedly stated. Navalny continues to promote fake stories about his clothes, allegedly confiscated by Russian law enforcement. In fact, the things of Aleksey Navalny were taken by his wife, Yuliya.
Second in the list of failures of the opposition was the failure of “Smart voting” in the regional elections in September: opposition candidates received only 0.18% of seats. Through the “Smart Vote” – Navalny’s main electoral project – only 141 mandates were obtained, while 78,249 mandates were vacant on the scale of the elections. Thus, the “Smart Vote” won 0.18% of all mandates.
In addition, in 2020, Navalny’s approval rating fell after a scandal due to conflicting news about his “poisoning”. In the regional series of Navalny’s headquarters, problems arose: five offices had to be closed, and the personnel deficit was 30%.
The top five failures of the year for the opposition are completed by the debt of the fund that manages Navalny’s headquarters, which amounted to 20 million rubles. In 2020, the Foundation for the Protection of Citizens’ Rights evaded taxes in the amount of 8.3 million rubles. Enforcement proceedings were initiated against the Foundation for the Organisation and Coordination of the Protection of Citizens’ Rights for the collection of taxes in the amount of 2.6 million rubles. The HQ of the Foundation for the Protection of Citizens’ Rights’ has a debt for taxes and fees totalling 7.4 million rubles.
In sixth place is the loss of popularity of the opposition on YouTube and other social networks. In October-November of the outgoing year alone, the volume of growth of subscribers of the “Navalny LIVE” channel decreased by 50%, the total number of views – by 30% compared to previous periods. The channel “Aleksey Navalny” shows the same trend: 56% and 62%, respectively.
Also among the failures of the opposition this year is the insults against Russian doctors by Navalny and his associates. A victim of the harassment of the opposition was the former chief doctor of the Omsk City Clinical Hospital No. 1, where Navalny’s life was saved when he lost consciousness on the plane. The medic was called a “helpful criminal in a dressing gown”, “liar”, “incredible scoundrel”, “ghoul” and “swine”. Navalny’s associate Vladimir Milov called prominent Russian surgeon Leonid Roshal an “old beast” and a “criminal”.
The organisation of Navalny’s supporter Anastasiya Vasilyeva turned out to be fake without real members – this was considered another failure.
Also in 2020, the opposition demanded to introduce new sanctions against Russia. The “Anti-corruption Foundation“ employee Leonid Volkov said that Navalny’s structures can take part in strengthening sanctions against Russia. Former State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov called on the Russian opposition to lobby for tough options for sanctions against Russia. Ilya Yashin supported the introduction of sanctions against Russia in the European Parliament and advised European politicians to “improve” them.
The situation with the placement of photos of Nazi criminals on the website of the online campaign “Immortal Regiment” completes the top ten failures of the year. Those who posted photos of the Nazis turned out to be supporters of Aleksey Navalny.
It is also reported that 2020 turned into solid financial problems for Navalny’s so-called regional headquarters. The “Foundation for the Protection of Citizens’ Rights” and the “Foundation for the Organisation and Coordination of the Protection of Citizens’ Rights”, which manage Navalny’s “headquarters”, have accumulated tax debts of 18.3 million rubles. As a result, these organisations had to be liquidated. At the same time, the Anti-corruption Foundation’s income from voluntary donations, as “Ridus” writes with reference to the “Foundation of Money With Corruption“, amounted to 45 million rubles in 2020. From this, only 9.7 million rubles were included in the Anti-corruption Foundation’s financial report.
“Everything comes to the point that the network of headquarters is crumbling: since the beginning of the year, five branches have already been closed, now there are 37 of them instead of 42, but there are still not enough employees – staff shortage has reached 42%,“ said the “Foundation of Money With Corruption“.
Copyright © 2022. All Rights Reserved.