Aleksandr Pasechnik, a socialist, sees the jailed Opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny as part of the “liberal intelligentsia”. Mikhail Svetov, Russia’s best-known libertarian, recoils from Navalny’s economic populism. Olga Nikiforova, a monarchist, long refused to believe that Navalny was poisoned.
Yet despite their misgivings, all three risked arrest to join the protests that swept across Russia last weekend calling for Navalny’s release — and were considering doing so again on Sunday.
“Entering a phase of intense crisis is a lesser evil than this slow degradation of the country,” Pasechnik, 42, said. “We need this catalyst, now.”
Opposition to President Vladimir V. Putin has long come in many hues — from Stalinists who dream of resurrecting the planned economy, to nationalists who want to restrict migration and annexe more of Ukraine, to urban liberals who long for democracy and closer ties with the West.
Rarely have these disparate groups come together as they have in the last week around Navalny — because the moment has arrived, more and more Russians say, when they can no longer abide passive acceptance of Putin.
“Navalny has, for the first time, sparked a Russian protest movement against the President,” said Konstantin Gaaze, a sociologist.
Putin is in position to ride out the protests, as he has in the past, using a sprawling security apparatus adept at stifling discontent while avoiding large-scale repression that could inflame passions further. Even many of the protesters said it would take far bigger crowds to persuade the Kremlin to change course.
New York Times News Service