{"id":11937,"date":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=153591"},"modified":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T17:27:09","slug":"the-week-in-russia-no-2-politician-no-1-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/22\/the-week-in-russia-no-2-politician-no-1-headache\/","title":{"rendered":"The Week In Russia: ‘No. 2 Politician, No. 1 Headache’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States got a new president this week, but it\u2019s hard to escape the impression that Russia\u2019s political world has also seen a big change in less than seven days, a shift that will shape the future in unknown ways.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the result of Kremlin foe, opposition politician, and anti-corruption activist Aleksei Navalny\u2019s return — and a state response that analysts say has only added to the challenges faced by President Vladimir Putin.<\/a><\/p>\n

On the surface, it is Navalny\u2019s actions that appear to have caused an abrupt change — a shift that seems to show the country from a new perspective, like a place you picture in one way after an initial visit and then see from a different angle after you travel there again, with the original impression then fading in your memory.<\/p>\n

Defying the threat of almost certain arrest and the prospect of potentially being imprisoned for over a decade, Navalny returned to Russia on January 17 from Germany, where he had been recuperating after a nerve-agent poisoning in Siberia that he blames on the Federal Security Service (FSB) and on Putin himself.<\/p>\n

As promised by Russia\u2019s prison service days before his return, he was detained shortly after arrival and is now in a cell at Moscow\u2019s imposing Matrosskaya Tishina jail,<\/a> waiting a February 2 hearing on a charge that he violated parole in a previous case — an allegation he, supporters, and many observers say is patently absurd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are witnessing the official death of the rule of law in Russia,\u201d Sergey Radchenko, a British-based historian of the Cold War and post-Cold War era, wrote on Twitter<\/a> on January 18, when Navalny was taken to what he said he was told would be a meeting with his lawyers but turned out to be a hastily arranged hearing at a police station at which he was ordered jailed for 30 days pending a court ruling on the parole violation charge.<\/p>\n

The result of the hearing could be a 3 1\/2 year prison term, which would be a first for Navalny, who has been jailed for periods of days or weeks many times but has never been sent to prison — a fact that suggests Putin may fear that doing so could make him a martyr.<\/p>\n

In late December 2020, at which point he had repeatedly vowed to return to Russia but had not set a date, he was also targeted in a new criminal case on suspicion of fraud — accused of using donations to his anti-corruption organization for vacations and other personal purposes — and could be sentenced to 10 years in prison if charged and convicted.<\/p>\n

A ‘Palace’ And A Cell<\/strong><\/big><\/p>\n

He denies the allegation and supporters say it is an attempt to tar Navalny — who has dubbed the Kremlin-controlled United Russia the \u201cparty of crooks and thieves\u201d and produced detailed, entertaining videos accusing Putin\u2019s associates of over-the-top profligacy and graft — with the same brush.<\/p>\n

The latest video was released a day after Navalny was sent to Matrosskaya Tishina, the imposing Moscow lockup where whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky died in 2009, and raised the stakes — as well as the level of popular interest — in the 44-year-old Kremlin opponent’s long showdown with Putin.<\/p>\n

With complex financial records and colorful illustrations — some of them actual photos, some artist\u2019s renderings — it alleged that a sprawling and outrageously luxurious estate on the Black Sea coast was built for Putin at a cost of at least 100 billion rubles ($1.35 billion) and ultimately belongs to the president.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/span><\/a> Photo Gallery:<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside ‘Putin’s Palace’<\/h4>\n
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Images made by Aleksei Navalny’s anti-corruption team reveal the astonishing scale and luxury of a property on Russia’s Black Sea coast purportedly used by Vladimir Putin as his personal “palace.”<\/p>\n