The movement of Alexeï Navalny in the process of liquidation

Russian opponent Alexey Navalny during his trial in Moscow on February 20, 2021. AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

In Russia, organizations linked to the opponent Alexeï Navaly have to suspend most of their activities by court order.

The Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK), threatened with being classified as an “extremist organization”, no longer has the right to publish content on the internet or to organize demonstrations.

As for the regional branches of the navalnyst movement, they had to close their doors one after the other while awaiting a final decision from the Russian courts. 

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With our correspondent in Moscow,

Daniel Vallot, 

and

Rusina Shikhatova

No need to appear in front of Alexey Navalny's "Headquarters" in Moscow: the premises are empty, and the sign indicating their existence has been removed from the sight of passers-by. Threatened by the Russian justice system to be qualified as "extremists", the organizations linked to the opponent were forced to suspend their activities pending a final decision, by order of the prosecution, then the Moscow court responsible for the case. 

In just a few days, the movement founded by the opponent was forced to go underground.

The executives are for the most part detained, under house arrest, or have fled abroad.

The accounts on social networks are closing one after the other… or are renamed to erase any direct link with the FBK or the “HQ”.

As for the militants, they are for the most part unreachable and some confide to RFI their fear of expressing themselves publicly - a situation unprecedented since the end of the USSR for a Russian opposition movement.

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To read also: Russia: the opponent Alexeï Navalny announces the end of his hunger strike

Six years in prison

It was finally an official from Tomsk, in Siberia, who agreed to answer RFI's questions, stating straight away that Alexeï Navalny's local "HQ" had been closed in accordance with the injunction of the Russian justice. " 

Police pressure is increasing,"

explains Ksenia Fadeeva, elected to the local Duma last fall

. “In recent days, police cars have started following me. And several of our activists have been arrested…. Andrei Fateev, elected like me to the local parliament, was sentenced to thirty days of administrative detention. If we are recognized as an extremist organization, it is clear that we will not be able to continue working. "

Russian law provides for sentences of six years in prison for anyone who "collaborated" with an organization considered to be extremist - such as Jehovah's Witnesses or the organization of the Islamic State. And for navalnyst activists, there is little doubt that the court will follow the recommendations of the prosecution, which accuses the movement of wanting to " 

destabilize the socio-political situation

 " in Russia, "

 under cover of liberal slogans 

". An untenable situation for activists and sympathizers who have supported Alexeï Navalny and his anti-corruption crusade for years. After throwing the opponent in prison, it is his entire movement that the Russian authorities seem to want to permanently exclude from public life.   

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To read also: Russia: thousands of demonstrators in the street in support of Alexeï Navalny

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