This was the biggest demonstration…
…by Vladimir Putin’s critics in years
Tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets…
…sparked by the imprisonment of one man…
…and anger about social injustice, political repression…
…and staggering corruption at the heart of the Kremlin
But the protests were violently crushed by the police
Since then, the repression has escalated as Putin seeks to silence all dissent
Eliminating political opponents…
…exploiting the courts…
…and purging Russia of free speech
The games are over and repression is no longer about prevention…
…it’s now about elimination of threat
Alexei Navalny has become the undisputed leader of Russia’s opposition
It was his investigations into government corruption...
...that stirred Russia from political apathy
His film about Putin’s billion-dollar secret palace on the Black Sea…
…had 120m views, and was watched by…
…at least a quarter of the Russian population
Navalny’s fresh approach galvanised opposition in Russia
Not only that, he had a plan to demonstrate…
…just how much resistance there was to Putin’s ruling party
In the regional elections in 2019…
…he promoted a new smart-voting project…
…rallying voters behind whichever candidate had the best chance…
…of ousting the United Russia representative
One goal of his smart voting was destroy the monopoly
Once you have that opening…
…that starts a chemical reaction…
…of politics and struggle…
…within the elites
And he was right, and in several regions it did happen
He rightly identified the weak spot, and the Kremlin saw it as a major threat
At the same time, a key pillar of Putin’s popularity is weakening
Economic growth
Since 2014, Russia’s GDP has dropped by almost 30%…
…and a fiscal crisis in 2014…
…sparked a sharp devaluation of the rouble…
…from which it has yet to recover
With vocal opposition on the rise…
…and the economy starting to slide…
…Putin acted
Prominent Kremlin critic is in a coma…
…fighting for his life in a German hospital
These pictures show him being stretchered…
…into an ambulance…
…he was then airlifted to Berlin
Question is who did this?
When the attempt to assassinate Navalny failed…
…he was thrown in jail
Prompting the nationwide protests in January
The games are over and repression is no longer about prevention…
…it’s now about elimination of threat
Violetta Grudina ran Navalny’s headquarters in Murmansk…
…a port city in the north-west of Russia
With Navalny in a penal colony.…
…the Kremlin moved to crush his whole movement
Violetta’s office and 36 others in Navalny’s network…
…were forced to close after prosecutors labelled Navalny’s…
…Anti-Corruption Foundation an extremist organisation
They apply the law retrospectively…
…meaning that anybody…
…who had ever been associated…
…with that organisation should be treated…
…as extremist so effectively…
…they have equated Navalny’s…
…organisation with ISIS
Violetta decided to stand as an independent candidate…
…in the local elections
A cycle of intimidation began
Her headquarters were vandalised…
…her campaign staff were targeted…
…and intimidated with arrests…
…and trumped-up charges of drug trafficking
And the authorities even found a way to use the pandemic…
…to disrupt Violetta’s campaign
Despite testing negative she was forcibly detained…
…in a covid hospital
This meant she couldn’t submit the documents needed…
…to stand as a candidate
The Kremlin is very versatile…
…in using different tactics to crush…
…not just political opposition…
…but to deal with any sources of discontent…
…or political dissidence
They have used covid very imaginatively…
…instead of actually saving Russian lives…
…they’ve used it as a repressive measure
Violetta was only released from the hospital weeks later…
…after going on an eight-day hunger strike
Following her release Violetta was more determined than ever
Against all the odds, she managed to submit the papers…
…that formally registered her as a candidate
She’d managed to stay in the running longer…
…than the handful of other former Navalny co-ordinators…
…who’d also tried to stand in elections around the country
Just one day later she was called to a meeting…
…at the Election Commission
Like Navalny’s allies before her, she was identified as a former member…
…of an extremist organisation and banned from standing
In the 2021 State Duma elections, some opposition deputies…
…mainly running on the Communist Party ticket…
…did manage to get onto the ballot…
…but the elections were rigged
Putin’s United Russia won, retaining a two-thirds majority in parliament…
…big enough to enable Putin to change the Russian constitution
And it wouldn’t be the first time…
…in 2020 he pushed through amendments that will allow him…
…to remain in office for at least another 16 years
As the 2024 presidential election approaches…
…Putin has a personal vested interest in ensuring the opposition cannot compete
Putin is not in a position…
…to leave office any more
His power, his money, his life are all tied together…
…in the office in the Kremlin
If he were to lose power, the chances of him…
…retiring peacefully are very, very slim
The chances of his cronies …
…retaining their ill-gotten wealth…
…is close to zero
Protecting Putin’s regime means ramping up…
…spending on police and security forces
In 2020, one-tenth of the budget was allocated…
…to domestic security
You have this spiral of repression
The more it represses…
…the more discontent there is…
…the more it needs to repress, the more money it gets
Those who are charged face almost certain conviction
In 2020, 99.64% of those tried were found guilty
According to the World Justice Project…
…Russia has consistently had more government influence…
…in its criminal justice system…
…than almost any other country in the rule of law index
Russia doesn’t have an independent legal system
Legal system is one of the belts of political power in Russia
Russia doesn’t have the rule of law
It has the law of the ruler
In the aftermath of the January protests…
…more than 11,000 people were arrested…
…and 90 criminal cases were launched
Some 200 journalists were harassed and detained
Alla Gutnikova is a student journalist who is awaiting trial
She participated in a video with three friends…
…which encouraged young people to exercise their legal right to protest
Although the students complied with the authorities’ request…
…to take the film down
Their homes were raided
They spent months under house arrest awaiting their day in court
If convicted, the group could face up to three years in prison
Journalists who don’t toe Putin’s line…
…can now be branded by the government as “foreign agents”…
…forced to include a disclaimer with anything they publish or broadcast
This is a label which people have to wear symbolically…
It’s humiliating. It stigmatises people. It makes them untouchable
Worse is being branded an undesirable organisation
Any co-operation with which is punishable by several years in prison
So far dozens of organisations are on the list, the majority added…
…in the past two years
Despite the clampdown, many journalists continue to fight
The number of investigative journalists, the quality of their work…
…is unlike anything we’ve seen in the past 20, 30 years…
…the fact that Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s oldest newspapers, and its editor…
…Dmitry Muratov were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize…
…is partly a recognition of that extraordinary…
…determination to carry on
Although TV news remains a stronghold for Putin…
…spewing out constant propaganda…
…its popularity is being challenged by the internet, social media and YouTube
In the past five years, the share of traditional sources of information…
…TV, radio, newspapers has shrunk from 75% to 45%
The share of online sources of information has grown from 18% to 45%
The Kremlin is desperately trying to regain control…
…over that information space
It’s trying to force foreign platforms particularly YouTube…
…to censor content
For opponents like Violetta…
…the pressure to leave grows by the day
People are actively encouraged to leave the country…
…out of sight, out of mind
Russia is experiencing its largest political exodus since the 1970s
Those who stay increasingly live in dread
According to a poll by the Levada Centre…
…the share of Russia’s population who fear repression and…
…state violence is at its all-time high
And as for the rest…
…Putin will rely on the other force that has served him well…
…throughout his two-decade-long reign…
…apathy
People have jobs, they have kids
They might not be in as good a financial state…
…as they were ten years ago, but they’re still in a lot…
…better financial and economic state…
…than they were 20 or 30 years ago
So there is a lot to lose…
…and there is a lot to risk
You can find more of our…
…coverage on Russian repression…
…by clicking on the link…
…and viewers in the UK can also watch…
…a full-length documentary…
…on what this repression means…
…for members of the opposition…
…in Russia on the ITV Hub
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