president vladimir putin has been coming
under unusual pressure
a billion dollar palace allegedly paid
for illegally
has been making global headlines while
young russians flood tick tock with
calls for protests
thousands hit the streets in some of the
most widespread demonstrations in
years and the president himself faces
the public to deny
accusations of stolen wealth much of the
agitation was sparked by kremlin critic
alex navalny
now watching from prison so does navalny
pose a growing threat to president
putin's rule
alexey navalny has long been in the
public eye but his latest
moves have brought him unprecedented
attention he recently flew back to
russia
despite being poisoned there just months
earlier
upon his arrival he was immediately
arrested with authorities
citing his failure to meet the
conditions of his parole
but soon navalny's team released a viral
youtube video starring the opposition
leader
revealing what he calls putin's use of
vast stolen riches
it's already been viewed over 100
million times
and has fueled the anger of many
russians frustrated by the living
standards
and a sense of injustice
it's all about like the state of mind of
russian voters
there's so much displeased with the
regime it's it's about
the contents of what he's telling and
about the context
which he's creating he didn't show this
movie from germany from
safety right he showed it from russian
prison
he like put his head into the jaw of a
tiger
so he's really risking his life now and
the public feels it
protests following the valni's arrest
did not hit a record in numbers
but they spread out wider than ever
before in poutine's 20-year rule
we have never had so many cities and
towns participate
participating united under the same
type of slogans under the same i would
say political agenda
individual protests happened even in the
smaller towns and villages
according to the census that has been
taken during the administration
uh in the center of moscow 42 of
respondents
said that it was the first time they
took part in any protest public protest
activity
so the protest has evidently went beyond
the traditional audience and the
traditional participants
of protest demonstrations but whether
these are socially different people we
cannot say
president putin has long downplayed
navani's importance
he is known even for refusing to speak
the opposition politician's name
but on january 25th putin appeared
publicly to deny accusations brought
forth in navalny's video investigation
and it doesn't stop there usually absent
on state tv
the opposition leader was suddenly given
air time in major national tv programs
and though being discredited the scale
of kremlin acknowledgement of navalny in
itself
is unusual kremlin thought it wouldn't
be wise to
make promotion to him to criticize him
and advertise him at the same time right
previously kremlin
took care not to provoke this interest
now they probably saw that
his recognition and interest in
in what he's telling grew up in enough
among the tv
audience it's useless to to pretend that
he doesn't exist
some analysts say navalny may have
finally managed to unite russia's
opposition
which is notorious for infighting
previously he was not an unconditional
leader of the russian opposition
he was criticized by many actually
russian authorities were dominating
russian politics after they won this
constitutional majority
uh voting and their ratings went up the
opposition was
like this depressed they felt that they
didn't they couldn't offer any
resistance to
kremlin he took the initiative into his
hands he returned the initiative to
russian opposition
it's very important for for a protest
not just to feel like
uh morally right but also to feel strong
to feel the weakness of authorities and
navalny gave this feeling of the
weakness of the authorities
and amid navalny's increasing visibility
comes another crucial moment
russia's parliamentary elections in
september navalny is essentially blocked
from participating himself
instead he is urging the public to
engage in so-called smart voting
it means casting the vote for whichever
candidate may have the best chance of
unseating putin's united russia party
candidate
though seen as controversial by some the
strategy has been successful in the past
including in the 2019 moscow city duma
elections
analysts say smart voting may pose a
similar threat this time around
there is real chance that in the
majority of russian cities and towns
navalny will manage to ruin kremlin
plans to elect
the candidates of russia so kremlin just
cannot allow navalny to
take part in this game it's too risky
for him putin is facing a set of other
challenges
the russian economy is struggling due to
low oil prices
and the pandemic added to the hardship
despite putin's approval ratings falling
at over 60 percent they still appear
high nevada may therefore not seem be an
imminent threat
but he's found ways to put pressure on
the kremlin despite it he is the author
of what happened uh in russia last
saturday and this is again this is a
very significant degree of direct
political influence especially for a
person
who is barred from public political life
and even denied his freedom