{"id":17321,"date":"2021-01-24T10:31:18","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T18:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=17321"},"modified":"2021-01-24T10:31:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T18:31:20","slug":"navalny-escalates-battle-with-putin-as-eu-officials-demand-his-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/01\/24\/navalny-escalates-battle-with-putin-as-eu-officials-demand-his-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Navalny escalates battle with Putin as EU officials demand his release"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Russian opposition figure publishes an expos\u00e9 of lavish palace, calling it \u2018biggest bribe in history.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Russian
Alexei Navalny after a court hearing at a police station in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia, 18 January 2021 | EPA-EFE \/Navalny Press Team Handout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0DAVID M. HERSZENHORN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 20, 2021\u00a04:04 am (politico.eu)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexei Navalny isn\u2019t waiting for the West to come to his rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As top EU officials noisily demanded his release but took no concrete action, Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who was immediately arrested upon his return to Moscow after recovering in Germany from an assassination attempt, escalated his battle with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Navalny jailed for at least 30 days in the notorious Matrosskaya Tishina prison, he and his anti-corruption foundation released a searing expos\u00e9<\/a> about a lavish palace on the Black Sea that they allege was built for Putin by his cronies using the proceeds of decades of corruption, in what they labeled \u201cthe biggest bribe in history.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stunning multimedia display simultaneously mocked Putin as a madman obsessed with wealth, disclosed the architectural plans of the heavily-guarded compound, and even revealed minute details about the ostentatious furnishings, including the cost of tables and sofas. Throughout the report, which was written in Navalny\u2019s voice, there were dashes of his trademark acerbic humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVladimir Vladimirovich turned out to be a great lover of sofas,\u201d the report stated. \u201cAccording to our calculations, there are 47 of these pieces of furniture in his palace. I wonder if he sits on every one or only on the most expensive ones?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navalny\u2019s brazen willingness to continue taking the fight directly to Putin emphasized his bravery (critics would say stupidity) in returning to Russia, where agents of the federal security service allegedly tried to kill him in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it also illustrated the limited ability of Western powers to aid his crusade for democracy: German doctors could help save Navalny\u2019s life after he was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent, but the EU and the U.S. have been unable to pressure the Kremlin into ending its repression of political dissent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a debate in the European Parliament plenary on Tuesday, the EU\u2019s high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, led the West\u2019s condemnation cavalry. He denounced Navalny\u2019s arrest as \u201cunacceptable,\u201d demanded his release, expressed relief that he survived the poisoning attack, and noted that in response, the EU in September imposed sanctions<\/a> on six individuals and a state research institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny further decision on sanctions is for the Council to take,\u201d Borrell said, a rather equivocal statement given he will lead a discussion of Navalny\u2019s situation in the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday. EU ambassadors are due to discuss the case on Wednesday, but are also not expected to take any immediate concrete steps.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the debate, some MEPs called for sanctioning Russian officials who participated in Navalny\u2019s arrest or in the poisoning attack. Several were identified in an investigation by the Bellingcat news site, in which Navalny himself collaborated. Posing as a high-ranking security official, Navalny telephoned<\/a> one of his alleged attackers, and elicited incriminating statements, in what amounted to a humiliating blow to the Federal Security Service, the FSB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In testimony to the European Parliament<\/a> in November, Navalny had urged the EU not to focus on mid-ranking officers of the special services, but rather on the super-wealthy oligarchs close to Putin, many of whom maintain assets in Europe. And on Tuesday one of Navalny\u2019s close associates, Vladimir Ashurkov, published a list of eight names that he said Navalny hoped the West would penalize first. The list included Alisher Usmanov and Roman Abramovich, billionaires who own stakes in U.K. football clubs; as well as Denis Bortnikov, the son of the FSB director, Alexander Bortnikov; and Igor Shuvalov, a Putin ally who is chairman of Vnesheconombank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with POLITICO, Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Russian opposition activist who suffered two near-fatal poisoning attacks<\/a>, urged the EU to impose sanctions on those eight individuals. \u201cIs there anything the West can do, yes there is,\u201d Kara-Murza said. \u201cThere have been all these sanctions in recent years, but they were never targeted directly at the most important people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November, Navalny and Kara-Murza told the Parliament that oligarchs close to Putin were getting rich in Russia, and then safeguarding their wealth in the West, buying real estate, yachts and other luxury items. \u201cFor years and years, the West turned a blind eye to this,\u201d Kara-Murza said. \u201cIt\u2019s high time to put a stop to this. This goes both for the incoming Biden administration and for the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navalny rose to prominence as an anti-corruption crusader, but his battle with Putin has been personal at least since 2014 when Navalny and his brother, Oleg, were convicted on trumped-up fraud charges. Navalny was freed on a suspended sentence, but his brother was sentenced<\/a> to three and half years in prison, a decision that left the usually unflappable opposition leader in tears<\/a>, shouting at the judge, \u201cAren\u2019t you ashamed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian authorities said Navalny was arrested on Sunday for violating terms of that suspended sentence in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kara-Murza said that despite the personal danger, Navalny had no choice but to return to Russia and continue their fight to turn it into \u201ca normal European country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe made the only possible call,\u201d Kara-Murza said. \u201cWe know how Putin\u2019s regime deals with opponents. We know what the stakes are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kremlin similarly seemed to have little choice but to arrest Navalny after taking numerous steps that seemed intended to dissuade him from returning home, including a raid of his offices in November, and warnings that he would be detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe immediate offense that Alexei committed was not registering for his parole,\u201d Kara-Murza said. \u201cThe reason he didn\u2019t register is he was recovering from a state sponsored attack. You can\u2019t make this stuff up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the absurdity, Putin, who avoids ever uttering Navalny\u2019s name, had taken credit during his annual news conference for allowing Navalny to leave Russia for treatment. Referring to him as the \u201cBerlin clinic patient,\u201d Putin also denigrated Navalny for never holding a position of responsibility, an ironic criticism given the Kremlin has gone to great lengths at various times to disqualify Navalny from running for public office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navalny and his supporters are now focused on the September elections for the Russian Duma, in which they are hoping to carry out a concerted strategy, which they have branded \u201csmart voting,\u201d in which opposition groups agree to support any one candidate that isn\u2019t allied with Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement issued from prison on Tuesday, Navalny compared his cell to his hospital room in Germany, noting that they were very similar but his bed in jail doesn\u2019t have a remote control to adjust the supports for his legs and back. His humor appeared to be intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere they aren\u2019t sticking needles with tubes in my body and aren\u2019t connecting wires to me (at least not yet),\u201d Navalny said. \u201cAnd they also speak my native language. A big plus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian opposition figure publishes an expos\u00e9 of lavish palace, calling it \u2018biggest bribe in history.\u2019 BY\u00a0DAVID M. HERSZENHORN January 20, 2021\u00a04:04 am (politico.eu) Alexei Navalny isn\u2019t waiting for the West to come to his rescue. As top EU officials noisily demanded his release but took no concrete action, Navalny, the… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17322,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321\/revisions\/17322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}