...people in general are more distrustful and wary of [Navalny] than they are distrustful and wary of the Russian government or Putin personally. His popularity has indeed grown some in the wake of the alleged poisoning, as well as the calls he made relatively recently for direct stimulus measures to help citizens in the wake of COVID. However, it still tails that of Putin and even that of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of far-right LDPR.
...he is backed by many post-Soviet capitalists, from the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky to the former head of the Central Bank of Russia, Sergei Aleksashenko. However, he also wanted to run for the presidency on the platform of raising wages, pensions, and introducing progressive taxes—but never centered the working class in his agenda, only sometimes talking about poverty and always outlining the necessity of helping small business owners. The times when I recall him talking about the working class, it was with disdain or posturing
...Navalny thinks Russia should align more with Europe and less with its ex-Soviet neighbors, Asian or Latin American countries.
...He seems to only find full support in those who want to switch from Putin’s government by any means necessary and don’t really care about views or policies.
...His support in Russia has been greatly exaggerated by the Western press.
...I believe that the Russian protests are a mix of organic and astroturfed. I would definitely see what’s happening with Alexei Navalny in the context of the foreign politics of the European Union and the USA — and especially to the presidency of Joe Biden. The US Democrats have spent years talking about the so-called “Russiagate”, a narrative prevalent in the US, that blamed Russia for Hilary Clinton’s loss in 2016. The conspiracy has been debunked continuously but remains a big staple of American politics. I believe that because of that and the proxy wars going on between the two countries, Biden’s term will be very hawkish on Russia.
... I want everyone to realize that the overwhelming majority of western journalists are busy communicating their own narrative, which does not have anything to do with the real situation on the ground; however, it too often reflects the opinions of State Departments of NATO countries.
...The biggest myth about Russia is that Putin is some off-the-charts dictator, Russia is an absolute hellhole, and that his only opposition is Navalny, who is being prevented from elections and poisoned. Careful investigation into the material circumstances of people in Russia will show that while the country is poor, it has improved since the 90s.
...the West should get rid of the white savior syndrome and allow Russians to choose their leader themselves. According to polls, right now, it is Putin. I’m not a fan, but I don’t feel like I have the moral high ground to tell most of my compatriots they lack the agency to make this choice for themselves.
... even in Moscow, [Putin] wins by a margin, fair and square. Meanwhile, his most significant opposition is not Navalny, as one can gather from the poll figures. The real opposition party, CPRF, holds a sizeable presence in the Duma.
1.Putin is KGB agent installed by KGB to protect the country (Russia) from falling apart. "Democratic Russia" was worse than Ukraine, after fall of Soviet Union army was not paid,people were not getting their retirement money, mafia was growing and what worst - nukes and bioweapons were available on black market.
2.Putin is not all-powerful. He is just like russian call that: "pachan" - boss of mafia. He removed pro-western olligarchs who were operating against interest of the russian state and its powerful (post soviet) intelligence agencies.
3."Democratic opposition" in Russia is usually about western interess. It is good for west and America because of hope of profiting over Russia but bad for Russians national interests,so as the result support for democracy is only in pro-western groups of their society. Many of those people are Jewish cosmopolites (but those oligarchs backing Putin in big part are Jewish too !)
4.Putin isn't worst option for the west - Sergey Szojgu Russian minister of defence wanted full scale military invasion on Ukraine. In Russia still exist communist party, communist-fascist mix called National Bolsheviks (NazBols) and nationalist party of Zhirinovsky - all of them more populist and more obsessed about restitution of imperial position of Russia.
As Pole unlike "my" government I would prefer Putin in Kremlin or some "One Russia" party corrupted official than others, not because I like this man - but because I simply don't like the idea of dying on war with Russia and my country being radioactive wasteland (you know: those Russian mad nuclear doctrine).
And also unlike "my" government I wouldn't like Russia falling completely apart because then we could have Chinese Syberia or China in Europe.
Paging u/hopeless
Truths about Russia and Putin
1.Putin is KGB agent installed by KGB to protect the country (Russia) from falling apart. "Democratic Russia" was worse than Ukraine, after fall of Soviet Union army was not paid,people were not getting their retirement money, mafia was growing and what worst - nukes and bioweapons were available on black market. 2.Putin is not all-powerful. He is just like russian call that: "pachan" - boss of mafia. He removed pro-western olligarchs who were operating against interest of the russian state and its powerful (post soviet) intelligence agencies. 3."Democratic opposition" in Russia is usually about western interess. It is good for west and America because of hope of profiting over Russia but bad for Russians national interests,so as the result support for democracy is only in pro-western groups of their society. Many of those people are Jewish cosmopolites (but those oligarchs backing Putin in big part are Jewish too !) 4.Putin isn't worst option for the west - Sergey Szojgu Russian minister of defence wanted full scale military invasion on Ukraine. In Russia still exist communist party, communist-fascist mix called National Bolsheviks (NazBols) and nationalist party of Zhirinovsky - all of them more populist and more obsessed about restitution of imperial position of Russia.
As Pole unlike "my" government I would prefer Putin in Kremlin or some "One Russia" party corrupted official than others, not because I like this man - but because I simply don't like the idea of dying on war with Russia and my country being radioactive wasteland (you know: those Russian mad nuclear doctrine).
And also unlike "my" government I wouldn't like Russia falling completely apart because then we could have Chinese Syberia or China in Europe.