Slightly less than half of the ex-coordinators of the network of regional headquarters of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia, have left the Russian Federation or are planning to do so, and less than a quarter remain in politics. The newspaper “Kommersant” cites such data on Monday, November 29th.
According to the newspaper, 14 of the 38 coordinators of Navalny’s headquarters have emigrated from Russia. The whereabouts of three more are unknown. Among the ex-chiefs of staff interviewed by Kommersant, only nine people, including two city deputies, continue to engage in politics. Seven people have launched their own projects, and two admit the possibility of departure.
Former head of the Kuzbass headquarters Stanislav Kalinichenko told Kommersant that he does not currently have an identity card. According to the activist, the police seized his passport during a search, and then “destroyed”. Now the young man needs to appear for a new one, and Kalinichenko believes that when he does this, he may be detained.
Defendants in administrative and criminal cases
It is difficult for individual ex-coordinators to leave the Russian Federation, since they are involved in administrative and criminal cases. Most of them have been opened because of protests organized last winter against Navalny’s arrest. There are those who have already been sentenced.
These are Oleg Stepanov (Moscow), who is under the restriction of freedom for the “sanitary case”, Alexei Vorsin, who received a suspended sentence under the “Dada” article for repeated violations of the rules for holding rallies, Sergei Bespalov (Irkutsk), who was assigned a restriction of freedom for injuring the hand that removed him NOD activists, as well as Andrei Borovikov (Arkhangelsk), sentenced to two years and three months for distributing pornography due to the release of a Rammstein video.
Navalny’s structures recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation
In the prelude, the Moscow prosecutor’s office demanded to recognize the headquarters of Navalny and other structures of the politician as extremist, after which the supporter of the opposition, Leonid Volkov, announced that the network of regional headquarters was officially terminating its work. In June, the Moscow City Court recognized the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) created by Navalny and Navalny’s headquarters as extremist organizations, thus satisfying the prosecutor’s claim. In September, a criminal case was opened against Navalny and his closest associates on the creation of an “extremist community” and participation in it.
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