Imprisoned Russian opponent Alexei Navalny said on Tuesday that the failed rebellion of the paramilitary group Wagner demonstrated that Vladimir Putin’s power is a “threat to Russia”, in his first reaction since the crisis.
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“There is no greater threat to Russia than Putin’s regime” which “is so dangerous to the country that even its inevitable collapse poses a threat of civil war,” Navalny said via Twitter.
Since his imprisonment in Russia in January 2021, Alexeï Navalny has been sending messages to his lawyers which are then published online by his team.
“It was not the West or the opposition that shot down Russian helicopters over Russia. It was not the FBK (Mr. Navalny’s organization, editor’s note) that brought Russia to the brink of civil war (…) It was Putin who did it personally”, castigated Mr. Navalny, main critic of the Kremlin.
The opponent accused supporters of Russian power of being “ready to unleash a war of all against all at any time” and called for a post-Putin transition that would go through “free elections”.
He also assured, contrary to the assertions of the Kremlin, that the population had not supported Vladimir Putin during the rebellion of Wagner and that there “was no unity of the nation around” the Russian president.
“Dictators and the usurpation of power always lead to disorder, state weakness and chaos,” he added.
The anti-corruption activist, who is already serving a nine-year prison sentence for “fraud”, is facing a new trial in which he faces 30 years in prison for “extremism”. Mr. Navalny denounces these cases as being political.
Mr. Navalny is regularly sent to a correctional cell and only reacts to events in Russia after the fact.
According to him, he has been deprived of a radio in his cell and has not been able to speak to other prisoners since June 1 and only heard about the Wagner mutiny from his lawyers during a hearing for his retrial, which will take place. takes place behind closed doors.