Alexei Navalny - the man Putin fears the most.

Alexei Anatolievich Navalny is a Russian lawyer, activist, and opposition leader. Born in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia (then the Soviet Union) on 4th June 1976, his relative youth has allowed him to use the power of the internet and social media to spread his message.

He started a blog whose readership steadily increased, and eventually gathered a dedicated following. Navalny ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013 and had originally spread a strong nationalist ideology, supporting Russia's war in Georgia.

Although Navalny lost the mayoral race to Sergei Sobyanin (a Putin ally), he did garner a significant amount of the votes, showcasing that his political influence was on the rise.

Understanding the political climate of Russia:

Vladimir Putin first became the President of Russia in the year 2000 and served his term until 2008. After this, Dmitri Medvedev took his place, but many people considered him as Putin's puppet. And in 2012, Putin became President once again (after serving as Prime Minister during this time). He was not unpopular during his first term, having improved the economy. This was the reason for his support, even though he brandished an iron fist across Russia.

But during his second presidency, something changed. He announced his term without the people's say in the matter, and his party, United Russia, was caught in election fraud during the legislative elections. This led to a collective ill-feeling towards the President.

Then again, in 2014, the tides shifted in Putin's favor. The invasion of Crimea in Ukraine was wholeheartedly supported by citizens, and his approval ratings were on the rise again.

Among these situations, Alexei Navalny began his plan of action. Navalny's plan included three main parts:

1. focus on exposing the rampant corruption in the Russian government - something he knew would appeal to the most number of citizens)

2. uniting all opposition parties and leaders under the same cause and supporting smaller parties in small cities

3. using his YouTube channel (which currently has 6.5M subscribers) to expose the crimes of Putin, his party, and the oligarchs in power.

Soon, Navalny faced embezzlement charges, something that is common to a lot of popular dissenters. When he announced in 2016 that he would be running for President in two years, it was decided that he would not be allowed to do the same due to the embezzlement charges.

In August of 2020, Navalny was on a flight from Serbia to Moscow with his wife, Yulia Navalnaya. During the flight, he suddenly became ill. The plane had an emergency landing in the city of Omsk, where videos of him groaning and being carried out of the plane became viral.

When in the hospital, the doctors reported that there was nothing out of the usual. Suspecting that they were controlled by the Kremlin, a German foundation sent a medical plane to assess Navalny. It was soon confirmed that he had been poisoned with Novichok, a lethal nerve stimulant developed by the KGB.

Upon the accusations that the Russian government was behind the poisoning, Putin denied it by saying that they would have "finished it off" if they were responsible. Navalny, who was receiving treatment in Germany, returned after he was cured and posted his biggest reveal of all time - a video titled 'Putin's Palace. In this video, he explained Putin's enormous but secret wealth. This instigated numerous protests all over Russia.

Immediately after he arrived in Russia, he was arrested.

It is evident from Vladimir Putin's response to Alexei Navalny's rise in the influence that he is truly afraid of the consequences. Currently, all of his political movements have been suspended across the country. The people in power realize that he is a threat to their lifestyle, but every time they try to silence Navalny, it seems to backfire.

How much more are Russia's public servants and oligarchs hiding? And how much will they do to keep it hidden?

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