Russian Politics : Rule Over Regime

The Soviet Union was a group of Political States, Among them, Russian Federation was one of the republic states. In 1991, due to communist Conflicts, the Soviet Union Collapsed and Russian Federation got Independent with other Republics. In 1999, Vladimir Putin who was an Intelligence officer took over the office. But soon discrepancies were found by Alexei Navalny around the Corrupt Governance. Let's Look at how both leaders managed to provide a huge political plot.

Rise of Vladimir Putin :

In his initial time, he shaped the country into an Authoritarian and Militaristic society. He successfully Invaded two of Russia's neighbors and strengthened ties with Syria and Iran. To understand how one man could have such a powerful influence on his country we must look back to the chaos and corruption that gripped Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. When the Berlin wall fell Putin was working as an undercover spy in East Germany for the Soviet security agency the KGB. The Soviet Union dissolved into 15 new countries, including the new Russian Federation. In Putin's eyes, Russia had just lost two million square miles of territory. He later called this a major geopolitical disaster of the century. Lamenting that tens of millions of his co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory.

The new government had to sell off nearly 45,000 public businesses like energy, mining, and communication companies that had been run by the communist regime. And it was chaos. The Russian economy was in a freefall and all these companies ended up in the hands of a few extremely wealthy men, known today as Russia's oligarchs. At the same time, the new Russian state was having a hard time establishing itself. inequality actually worsened after the fall of the Soviet Union. This is where Vladimir Putin enters politics. He leaves the KGB in 1991 and becomes the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. Putin uses his position to give special treatment to friends and allies in the private sector. He helps them structure monopolies and regulates their competitors, quickly becoming a favorite among the oligarchs. Before long he's assembled a support network of oligarchs, crime bosses, and security officials, mostly fellow former KGB officers like he was. With their help, he rapidly ascends to the upper echelon of the new Russian state.

Putin's goal then was to build a strong Russian state, one that would be both stable and capable of exercising more influence over its neighbors. And he quickly got his chance...

During the post-Soviet chaos, there was escalating violence in Chechnya, a region that informally seceded from Russia in the mid-90s. Chechen terrorists were pushing into Russian

territory and attacking the border. In August 1999, a series of deadly bombings killed more than 300 people in several Russian cities, including Moscow. Putin, the new prime minister, immediately blames Chechen separatists for the attack. He regularly appears on Russian television claiming he will avenge Russia. The population quickly rallies around him. Putin's approval ratings jump from 2% before the bombing to forty-five percent after the bombings.

During the bloody campaign in Chechnya, Putin wins the presidential election. He begins to shape the Russian state to his vision. Patronage and corruption remain some of his key tools, but he quickly suppresses the oligarchs under his rule. Those that support Putin are rewarded, those that don't are eliminated. With the oligarchs under control, Putin was now free to move his vision outside of Russia's borders.

In August 2008, Russia invades Georgia, a former Soviet republic. It's a display of aggression and strength on behalf of pro-Russian separatists there. Russia quickly annexes two small parts of Georgia, drawing condemnation from all over the world. Interestingly though Putin was not president during the invasion. The Russian Constitution says the president can only serve two consecutive terms but sets no limit on the total number of terms one can serve. So Putin took the Prime Minister role again when his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev served as president. Putin announces his candidacy for president and wins the 2012 election by a preposterous margin. Putin starts his third term once again amid chaos. He doubles down on his authoritarian governance style at home and his militaristic strategy. But in both cases, he showcases a mastery of information. He first took office in 2000, Putin has kept a tight leash on Russian television. Essentially all news outlets are state-owned propaganda machines. His regime decides which stories air and how always depicting him as the strong Russian leader.

Rise of Alexei Navalny :

In August 2020, Russian politician, Alexei Navalny was shooting his campaign video. He was in Siberia. One of the places where, in about 3 weeks, there would be local and regional elections. But he wasn’t running for office. He was urging people to vote out the ruling party, United Russia, led by the president, Vladimir Putin. He has made many videos like this before and they usually rack up millions of views. It’s this ability to reach people via the internet that has helped make Navalny the face of Russia's opposition movement. The media hid Putin’s actions from the public so he was able to go after another powerful element - Russia’s elections. His regime manipulated who could run for office. And that typically meant Putin’s party and a few fake candidates, sanctioned by the regime. This was designed to splinter the opposition vote. And on top of that, The vote counting is rigged. Meaning that it was nearly impossible to run against Putin or his party. And that United Russia had control of the central and local governments all across the country. In the early 2000s, most of Russia’s wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few, very powerful men. Putin protected those that swore loyalty to him. And those who didn't were either arrested on trumped-up charges or mysteriously killed. That's how the judiciary is weaponized. With the law on his side, within a decade, Putin insulated himself with the most powerful elements on all sides. And it was all held together by corruption. Corruption is a structural feature of the regime. According to a report, over $400 billion were lost to corruption in Russia between 2000 and 2008. But because Putin controlled the media, much of it was hidden. Until a young lawyer named Alexei Navalny found a way to change that. In 2006, Navalny started a blog where he wrote about corruption (like I am doing now lol😂). In 2010, he wrote that at least $4 billion was stolen out And he had proof. He had bought stock in the company and was able to access internal documents that plainly showed how government money was funneled into offshore accounts owned by Transneft officials. And this was just the beginning. Navalny soon published investigations on corrupt oil schemes, land deals, and fraud at state-owned banks by Russian oligarchs and politicians. By posting straight to his blog, Navalny was circumventing state media to reveal corruption and expose Putin’s regime in a way that Russians had never seen before. In 2011, huge protests erupted when Putin’s party won a majority in parliament despite reports of voter fraud. It was the largest wave of demonstrations Putin’s regime had ever faced. And Navalny was one of the main organizers. He was building on his investigations by speaking out publicly against corruption. State television ignored the protests even as the police arrested more than 1,000 people and went after the organizers. Over time, he developed a talent for organizing protests and gained a following. Then in 2013, he ran for mayor of Moscow. And it stirred some controversy. He had participated in Russian nationalist marches in the past. And used ethnic slurs when referring to Russian minorities. But people were still drawn to the main message of his campaign. State TV didn’t give his campaign any airtime, so he relied on rallies, online crowdsourcing, and an army of volunteers to spread the word. But, just as he was gaining momentum, police arrested him on trumped-up charges of embezzlement and sentenced him to 5 years in jail.

His supporters flooded the streets in protest. Navalny was eventually released on bail and didn't win the election. But, he went on to finish second place. He continued to expose corruption through Youtube videos. It reached millions and sparked another round of protests. At the same time, Navalny was running for office again. This time, against Putin for President. Predictably, the regime struck back and disqualified him based on the previous embezzlement charges. Further revealing just how rigged Russia’s laws and elections were.

But in 2020, Navalny found a way to take on the whole electoral system. He called it Smart-Voting. Instead of letting the opposition vote splinter among several dummy candidates, Navalny identified one candidate and urged people to vote for the same one, even if they were backed by Putin's regime. It takes an incredible amount of public trust and charisma to get people to unify behind a meaningless candidate. But, it's true, if you get enough people to do it, it actually can add up to meaningful resistance.

During that time, Navalny was the second most popular politician in all of Russia according to some polls. While Putin’s favorability ratings were slipping because of a struggling economy. That made Navalny a threat to Putin.

He was poisoned, possibly more than once. Soon after making his case in Siberia, he got on a plane for Moscow. But the plane was suddenly diverted to Omsk. Navalny had been poisoned. And collapsed on the plane. An investigation later revealed that he had been poisoned with Novichok, a highly toxic nerve agent, that was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. It was also used, likely by Russia in 2018 to attack Sergei Skirpal, a former spy. Navalny survived the assassination attempt and set off a movement unlike any in recent history. After the Siberia attack, Navalny recovered in a German hospital where he miraculously survived.

A few months later, he went back to his investigations. In December 2020, he tricked the secret agent who poisoned him into revealing how he did it. Then, in January, he returned to Russia knowing he would be arrested. Police met him at the airport and charged him with violating the parole from his 2014 embezzlement case. His supporters flooded the streets in over 100 cities across Russia. A few days later, Navalny was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison, sparking even more protests. Police have arrested more than 5,000 people while state media has downplayed it. Even though Navalny ended up in prison again, his movement continued to play out on the streets. By exposing Putin's regime for a decade, Navalny might have found a way to build a movement that could outlast his freedom.

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Two Political Leaders with their special political skills dawning upon one another. Putin controlling Media, Rich Oligarchs, Law and Order and in Meantime Alexei Navalny exposing the corrupt governance through online portals.

SOURCES :
1. VOX Youtube: Why Putin wants Alexei Navalny dead?
2. VOX Youtube: From Spy to President : The Rise of Vladimir Putin.
3. www.britanica.com/History : History of Soviet Union.

                                                        Harshil Jani
                                                     (NACTORE Extracts)                                                  

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