Russian Politics: The Navalny Power Game

TWO DAYS after being sentenced in Kirov to five years’ jail, Alexei Navalny, Russia’s opposition leader, got off the train in Moscow to the cheers of several hundred fans and under the gaze of dozens of television cameras. Having failed to disperse the crowd, the police made a corridor for Mr Navalny, his wife and his entourage. With a loudspeaker in his hand and his statuesque wife by his side, Mr Navalny addressed his supporters with a fiery speech.It was a revolutionary image which prompted ready-made parallels with Vladimir Lenin’s words at the Finland Station when he returned to Petrograd from exile in April 1917 to head the Bolshevik movement. All that was missing was an armoured car. “It’s because of you that we were released the next day. Thank you! We are a huge, mighty force and we are starting to recognize ourselves as such,” thundered Mr Navalny, a populist with a nationalist streak.Mr Navalny’s politically motivated conviction is still in place, but he has been released, pending an appeal, and allowed, at least for now, to run in the mayoral election in Moscow. The harsh sentence gave him the dignity of a martyr. His miraculous release 24 hours later gave him the laurels of a hero. There is no doubt that in both cases the instructions came directly from Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. Not even the savviest campaign manager could have done as much for him.In…

The Economist: Europe