Alexei Navalny is the face of Russia's opposition. His organization's disclosures against corruption brought thousands to the streets. In our interview with Stepan Goncharov we want to look into the most recent protests. The political scientist Goncharov works as a senior research fellow at Levada-Center in Moscow. He does not consider Navalny powerful enough to challenge the political status quo.
It is a national holiday that dates back to the declaration of sovereignty that Russia, or at that time the Russian Socialist Federation of Soviet Russia (RSFSR) signed on the 12th of June 1990. Alexei Navalny chose this day to promote his own agenda, his fight against corruption and his investigations about Russian high officials.
Navalny called the people to the streets. First the demonstration was set to start on Sakharov Avenue. But only twelve hours before the demonstration startet they changed the location to Tverskaya street. The street is right next to the Kremlin, so it would raise much more attention.
At the same time there was a festival where historical reenactments took place.
The official government newspaper wrote that many people actually came to see the reenactement show on Tverskaya rather than joining the protest against corruption.Well, if the protest would have stayed in Sakharova it would have attracted far less people. That's for sure.
There were people coming for both the protest and the celebration. The people protesting were many but not the majority. They were loud and noisy and therefore could raise attention.
There were actions in other cities but they were less popular than in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. There was only a couple of hundred people in those cities. What Navalny achieved was to mobilise people nationwide. He has a very good network of his offices and his supporters all around the country. But it is not the majority who supports him.
The biggest protests where in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. Thousands participated in each of these cities.
Yes there is protests in more cities. But this is only due to the better organisation of the events. If there is formally a protest it doesn't mean that the protest is very popular.
Let's have a look at the people who actually joined the protest.Did you do a survey at Levada on who are the protesters?
We did not make any survey yet. But since I was there myself, observing the protest I could see that mainly young people in their mid-twenties took part. Many of them were supporters of Navalny. He is simply very good at getting his message across in the internet.
There is people that are radically against the existing opposition party and that's why they are supporting Alexei Navalny. Navalny is currently under investigation. It is difficult to support someone who is considered an outlaw. That's why the number of his supporters is not that big. But they are very active. We can see that they organize very colourful actions.
Navalny's image in the Russian TV is very negative. And many other opposition leaders don't support him or support him only in some aspects.