N°11-01/03/2021 Navalny, has just returned to Moscow after being treated for poisoning in Germany. He was immediately jailed on charges of violating judicial control measures when seeking treatment abroad.
He is described by the media as the white knight in the fight against Putin and corruption. He is even, supposedly, the only real opponent of Putin. Upon his return to Russia, with the help of specialized US agencies and the support of France, he immediately called for demonstrations against the regime. These demonstrations, although limited, gave rise to arrests and great media turmoil.
However compared to the description made by the media, the reality is not so bright.
Navalny like Putin is a supporter of the capitalist system, he even has a marked penchant for reactionary and racist views. The only difference is that Putin supports Russian capitalism and monopolies, whereas Navalny goes for American interests and he is not without support among the oligarchs and leaders of the capitalist companies that have grabbed Russia’s wealth. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G. A. Ziouganov said of him in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda: "I do not see [Navalny] as an opposition. He represents American finance capital." According to the Communist leader, Navalny is a foreign intelligence pawn to set up a revolution like the Ukrainian Maidan of 2014. Some even add cruelly that he can be compared to B. N. Yeltsin ... minus the drinking. The emphasis on Navalny does not bother the regime and especially V. V. Poutine. He pampers this "prefabricated opponent", and keeps him in the limelight. Because, though he denounces corruption: which is very real, he does not question the system itself and therefore, he can constitute a trump card for Russian capitalism when the time comes to replace the current tenant of the Kremlin . The time may be shorter than expected. Indeed, Russia is sinking into a deep economic and social crisis which does not leave the people idle as we have seen when the pension reform raised a wave of protests that forced the power to retreat.
This social situation is compounded by a health crisis as the health system has been dismantled over decades of austerity and privatization and is unable to cope with the pandemic. Fighting capitalism whether in the guise of Putin or Navalny is therefore the only choice left to the real opponents of the regime.