Alexei Navalny
Alexei Navalny
Alexei Anatolievich Navalnyis a Russian lawyer, political and financial activist, and politician. Since 2009, he has gained prominence in Russia, and in the Russian and international media, as a critic of corruption and of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has organized large-scale demonstrations promoting democracy and attacking political corruption, Putin, and Putin's political allies; he has run for a political office on the same platform. In 2012, The Wall Street Journal described him as "the man Vladimir Putin fears most"...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionActivist
CountryRussian Federation
Our political leaders often talk about Russia taking an independent path, but they like to live like people in the West.
When we get a chance to take part in elections, I am ready to fight for leading positions, including in the presidential vote.
The questioning is a stupid formality aimed exclusively at preventing us from speaking at the demonstration.
The party of swindlers and thieves is putting forward its chief swindler and its chief thief for the presidency. We must vote against him, struggle against him.
Putin has reversed all the liberalizing reforms carried out by his predecessor.
In Russia an authoritarian leader is running the country. You can't fight Putin with elections because he controls them. That's why demonstrations are the most effective approach. Unfortunately Russia has sunk to this primitive level.
Politics is traditionally a male domain in Russia.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev can no longer attend concerts by his favorite group Deep Purple without having to fear that the musicians will wear T-shirts with Pussy Riot written on them.
I don't know why, but Putin has made a ritual out of humiliating Medvedev. Sometimes I even feel sorry for the prime minister.
Certain people have wanted to put me behind bars for a long time now. That's part of my work. If I were afraid, I couldn't do what I do.
I'm only sort of a politician.
Everyone needs to understand that my work addresses existing problems, and one of the crucial problems in Russia today is corruption.
I am not ready to back away from my views.
I really hate the people in power. I hate them with every fiber of my being. That is what drives me in almost everything I do.