Friends, I was watching a Youtube video that has 92 million views! 92 million!
Now, you could ask what’s the big deal about ?
It is not such a huge deal about us Indians. Because videos
of several movie trailers and songs easily garner a 100 million views. But in
this context, there are two interesting things to note.
First: The whole video is in Russian. And all the comments in this video are in Russian as well. And do you know the population of Russia? 144 million. That means, if we assume that half of the people who have watched this video are from Russia, Then that would mean 1/3rd of the Russian population has watched this Youtube video.
Another interesting thing is that
this is not a popular song or the trailer of a popular film. It is a video that
exposes the corruption of Putin.
Putin
Greetings, friends!
What is happening in Russia today is one of the biggest
threats to Putin till date. In more than 70 cities across Russia, the cold is
chilling- temperatures are dipping down to -50 degrees. Even then, thousands of
people have come out on the streets to protest against Putin. How strong can a
person be- you will be shocked to know! Come, let us delve deeper into it.
Story of Alexei Navalny
The protests began after an individual by the name of Alexei
Navalny was arrested in Moscow. When he
was returning from Berlin back to Moscow on 17 January. On arriving at Moscow’s
airport, he was arrested by the police. Shortly before he was placed in prison,
Navalny filmed a message and posted it in social media.
In which he called for nationwide protests and urged his
supporters to take part in the protests. But you might wonder who is Navalny
and why have the Russians come out in support for him. Alexei Navalny was born
June 4, 1976. His father was born in Ukraine.
He spent a lot of his childhood in Chernobyl before the
nuclear accident in 1986. After earning degrees in law and finance from Russian
universities, Navalny entered politics in 1999. This was the same year when
Putin became Russian President for the first time.
Navalny started his political career by joining the liberal
opposition party Yabloko. But disagreements with the party caused him to be
expelled from the party in 2007. Gradually, he developed his Anti-Corruption Foundation and became popular
in Russiaupon exposing corruption scandals in the late 2000s . Meanwhile, he
also started his own party and tried to contest the elections- the idea was a
flop one. In 2012, allegations were cast that the Putin won the elections
through fraud.
So, he conducted rallies against Putin in Moscow for which
he was put in jail for 15 days. In 2017, he got arrested for 25 days, in 2019,
he got arrested for 30 days. Throughout the decade (between 2010-2020), he
conducted anti-Putin, pro-democratic rallies. And protested that the elections
conducted in Russia are fraudulent. And consistently tried to beat Putin in
elections.
Today, he is seen as the face of the opposition in Russia – standing against
Putin. Along with that, he is an anti corruption activist and you could even
call him a Youtuber. Because the video with 90 million views that I had showed
you was actually made by him. He is single handedly serving as the opposition
as well as the independent media.
The problem, as you might already be aware of- is that
Russia is a democracy only for name sake. It is a democratic country only on
paper when in reality it is a dictatorship under Putin.
Russian Dictatorship
You will get to know the reality when you check Russia’s
democratic index or Press Freedom index. Each time elections are conducted,
allegations are cast on Putin and how he won the elections through fraud. All
the television channels and newspapers have genuflected before the government
or sold themselves (to the government).
The condition of the media there is even worse than the
condition of the media in India. In such a dictatorship, for an opposition
politician to win the elections is too far fetched. It is a challenge to merely
stay alive. Literally.
Because Navalny has been attacked fatally many times, about
which I will talk later. But despite that, Navalny has remain committed to
exposing Putin in one case after the other. In the video with 92 million views,
Navalny exposes (allegedly) Putin’s 1 billion dollar worth secret palace.
This is a palace that is secret and people do not know about
and it was allegedly paid for “with the
largest bribe in the world”. He has bought a huge area. The video is 2 hour
long. Do watch it. If you do not understand Russian, then English subtitles are
also available on the video.
Coming back to Navaly, I would like to tell you about the
different ways Putin has tried to suppress him.
Putin’s Attempts to Silence Opposition
In 2011 Navalny was arrested for the first time for his role
in a protest. In 2012, Putin ordered Russia’s Investigative Committee to launch
a criminal inquiry into Navalny’s past.
The following year,
in 2013, Mr Navalny was accused
and sentenced for embezzling timber worth $500,000 from thestate timber
company. This was in regard to the timber wood. In Russia, the dictatorship is
so entrenched in the country that even the court judges are pawns of the government. Judgements are
always delivered in favour of Putin.
This is the case of 2013 that was used to bar him from
standing against Putin in the Presidential elections. Because there is a rule
in place that states that a person with a pending criminal case against him
cannot contest the Presidential elections.
Even his family members have not been spared. In 2014, his
brother was jailed in a fabricated case. His brother spent three and a half
years in prison before being released in 2018. In 2020, Russian authorities
seized Navalny’s bank accounts and those of his wife, son and daughter. Navalny
was forced to close his Anti-Corruption Foundation in July 2020, under the
pretext of some allegations. And if this makes you wonder how much torture can
a person undergo…
Then this is just the start. As previously mentioned, he has
also been fatally attacked. He was even allegedly poisoned. Not once, but on
three occasions.
The first attempt was in 2018, Navalny was attacked with a
bright green liquid by an assailant who
pretended to shake his hand- but he was saved.
The second time, was
in 2019 when he suffered an allergic reaction in jail, allegedly from an
“unknown chemical substance”. He was saved even then.
The third time was on 20 August, 2020. After drinking tea
while in an airport, he became violently ill during a flight. The plane made an
emergency landing and he was rushed to a hospital in Germany. The German government
and labs in France and Sweden conducted an independent investigation on his
body.
It was discovered that Navalny had been poisoned with a
substance named Novichok. It was first suspected that his tea was poisoned but
it was later found out that the assassin put the poison in his underwear. After
this incident, he slipped into coma and stayed in that state for two weeks. He
was on ventilator and you could say that.
He got saved with great difficulty despite that. This was
the incident of September 2020. And thankfully, he was in a hospital in
Germany. Had he been in some hospital in Russia, attempts would have been made
to finish him off again.
But what he did after this shocked the entire world. He
conducted an investigation undercover and posted a video of that on YouTube.
The video was titled “I called my killer. He confessed.” (The title was in
Russian- this is the English translation).
It is indeed as surprising as it sounds. He actually
conducted an investigation to try and find out the person who tried to kill
him/assassinate him. He called him up and pretended to be an intelligence
officer and got him to confess how he attempted to assassinate him. The entire
phone call is available on Youtube- What was the plan and why did it fail.
Not only was a Russian opposition politician attacked
fatally,The very person who was attacked conducted an investigation himself and
called up the attacker an got him to confess. Sounds like the title of a James
Bond film, but it is, infact, the reality.
After all this, Mr. Navalny could have easily stayed safely
in Germany. His life was less threatened there as compared to Russia.
Conclusion
He could have easily kept exposing Putin from there. His
killer call video had already gone viral. He had already garnered more than
20-30 million views.
And everyone knew that if he returned to Russia now, Putin
would finish him off definitelyBut despite that, Navany decided to go back to
Russia. In January 2021, he boarded the
flight from Berlin to Moscow. And the police arrested him as soon as he landed,
in the presence of the media.
So did you understand the context of why so many people are
out on the streets in Russia to protest in Navalny? In my opinion, Navalny
decided to go back to Russia because he know that he couldn’t do much about
exposing Putin save making videos. But this would not really affect Putin’s
political power.
Putin could still continue his dictatorship. Going back to
Russia and endangering his life sends a strong message to his supporters. And
that is – in order to stand up to this dictator, one has to show courage. Which
he himself is exemplifying. This action of his motivates his supporters to come
upfront and protest in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees.
The Russian police has detained more than 3,000 people in
relation to these protests. But these protests are in no way slowing down.
Navalny knew that he would be arrested upon his arrival to Russia and so he
came prepared. Just after a day he was arrested, he released his biggest expose
on Youtube. The video with 92 million views that exposes the corruption of
Putin worth billions. He had already filmed this video. But when did he release
it?
After his arrest. He has also made it clear that he has no
intention of suiciding in jail. As a safety measure- to prevent Putin and the
Russian authorities from declaring that he committed “suicide” in jail. Experts
believe that by putting Navalny in jail, Putin is digging his own grave. For
all the time he is in jail, if something happens to him , he will become a martyr.
Which would instigate and enrage people and increase the
protests. While letting him go could threaten the parliamentary election, which
is upcoming this year. When the public support (for Navalny) is so clearly
evident, the public might not let Putin get away with an election fraud this
time. In 2018, Navalny launched a project called Smart Voting.
That is designed to promote candidates who are most likely
to defeat those Putin’s United Russia party. The success of this project became
evident in 2019, when the project helped opposition candidates win 20 of 45
seats on the Moscow city council.
And regional elections last year saw United Russia lose its
majority. The election frauds majorly take place in Presidential elections when
Putin himself is contesting them. But his party is losing in the local
elections. This year parliamentary election is upcoming in Russia: let us see
what happens. In response, Putin denies all allegations put on him and maintains that “US is meddling”. And that
Navalny is under the influence of anti national and foreign forces.
Putin’s Response
But the rest of the countries of the world have clearly seen
what has happened. The governments of USA, UK, Germany France have all put
pressure on Russia. To release Navalny and that the arrest is wrong. But
irrespective of whether Navalny is released anytime soon or not, one thing is
for sure: a spark has been lit among the people.
The whole of Russia has seen what exactly has happened
through Youtube videos. And this is why it could be a turning point in Russian
history.
We could hope to see an actual democracy in Russia in the
coming years.
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