With Navalny in prison, Russia turns to thwarting his movement

Prosecutors in President Vladimir Putin’s government requested on Monday an immediate halt to all public activities by Alexei Navalny’s political groups, in one of the most sweeping legal moves against the Russian opposition in recent years.

The decision cripples the only remaining effective opposition to Putin’s increasingly authoritarian rule and comes amid an intensifying campaign against Navalny, who survived an attempt on his life last year and is now serving a prison sentence on what he has called trumped-up charges.

Navalny’s movement is the most prominent in Russia openly calling for Putin’s removal through elections, and his supporters say the Kremlin is determined to crush that effort before it can yield fruit.

Prohibited from forming a political party, Navalny has instead worked through various nongovernmental organisations. These groups have persisted for years, despite unrelenting pressure from the Russian authorities, to push an anti-corruption drive that has frustrated and embarrassed Putin, often using social media to great effect.

The prosecutors’ requests outlaw all the tools the groups have used to get their message out. It requests a ban on Navalny’s nongovernmental organisations posting information on the internet, calling for public protests or taking part in political campaigns.

Prosecutors in Moscow requested the bans as preliminary rulings in a case that would declare the groups as “extremist,” akin under Russian law to a terrorist designation.

The court ordered an immediate halt to the activities of Navalny’s nationwide network of political offices, organised in a group called Navalny’s Headquarters. It will rule later on requests to squelch two of his other nongovernmental groups, the Fund for Fighting Corruption and the Fund for Defending Citizens’ Rights.

In their filing, prosecutors said the activities were illegal because they were “extremist” in nature, although the evidence in the case has been classified.

It was unclear when the court would rule on the two other nongovernmental groups and the broader request to designate Navalny’s movement as “extremist,” but judges in Russia rarely go against prosecutors.

“This is just screaming, ‘We fear your activity, we fear your protests, we fear smart voting,’” Ivan Zhdanov, a top aide to Navalny, wrote on Twitter, referring to a voting strategy in which the opposition coalesces around the single strongest candidate in a given race.

Until now, Navalny has still been able to get his word out through his various organisations.

Just days ago, he ended a hunger strike in jail after authorities relented amid an international outcry and allowed independent doctors to examine him. His personal doctors had feared that what they called ill treatment in jail and the hunger strike could kill Navalny unless he received proper medical care.

Though overshadowed by the assassination attempt on Navalny last year and his imprisonment and recent hunger strike, the legal onslaught against his movement also carries potentially far-reaching implications.

Putin’s system of governance is sometimes called a “soft authoritarian” approach because it allows open opposition and more internet freedoms than in China. Political parties exist in Russia that are ostensibly in the opposition, but in fact they back Putin and most of his policies while criticising officials lower down the pecking order, such as regional governors.

The prosecutors’ request singled out Navalny’s nongovernmental groups, saying they posed a risk to state security.

“To propagandise their actions, to exchange information and attract new participants, members of the movement use multiple information resources on the internet,” prosecutors wrote in their request. “The sites distributed extremist materials, calls to carry out extremist activities and mass disturbances, and to participation in public activities not sanctioned by empowered government bodies.”

The prosecutor’s request, which was published online by Navalny’s aides, said the ban could be appealed but would otherwise be in effect until a court ruling in the extremism case. It asked that the nongovernmental groups be prohibited from gaining access to their bank accounts except to pay overhead costs and fines.

Prosecutors have harried Navalny and other opposition figures for years but usually under pretexts, such as violating rules on public gatherings, laws unrelated to their political activities or more recently regulations against gatherings to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

That approach provided a fig leaf of legal tolerance for political dissent, which is guaranteed under Russia’s 1993 post-Soviet Constitution and seen as a touchstone for what separated contemporary Russia from the Soviet Union.

But the ruling on Monday against Navalny’s Headquarters was distinct for plainly targeting political activity, including imposing a specific ban on taking part in political campaigns.

When they announced the case earlier this month, prosecutors argued that Navalny’s movement was not, in fact, political. It was, they argued, a seditious organisation disguised as a political movement. In a news release, prosecutors said that “under the guise of liberal slogans these organisations are busy forming conditions for destabilising the social and sociopolitical situation.”

But the evidence has been deemed a state secret and the case will be heard behind closed doors.

Valeria Vetoshkina, a lawyer for Navalny’s organisations, said in a statement the prosecutors classified the evidence merely to avoid public scrutiny.

“Designating the Fund for Fighting Corruption an extremist organisation and all that follows from the ban on its activities, of course, curbs legal means for expressing opinion and spreading ideas and information,” Vetoshkina said. “Punishing people for their opinions at a minimum contradicts the constitution.”

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