Navalny’s Return to Russia

[trekkie6094404]

I’m struggling to understand why Navalny felt it necessary to return to Russia? He was arrested as soon as he exited the plane. Why would he put himself in harm’s way and risk his life again? What did I miss? He survived and denounced Putin publicly. Isn’t that enough?

Edited January 17, 2021 by Coconut Flan

[Xan]

2 hours ago, trekkie6094404 said:

I’m struggling to understand why Navalny felt it necessary to return to Russia? He was arrested as soon as he exited the plane. Why would he put himself in harm’s way and risk his life again? What did I miss? He survived and denounced Putin publicly. Isn’t that enough?

I think Navalny was aware that Putin wanted him to stay out of Russia.  He's more of a threat when he's there than in Germany.   Apparently, there was a big crowd waiting for him so they diverted the plane to another airport.  Some of his supporters got arrested and so did his brother.

I can't pretend to understand.  Putin is dangerous and Navalny will end up being killed eventually.  It's a level of bravery that I'm not sure I'd have.  I think Navalny truly does love Russia and he understands what Putin has done to the country.  I just don't know how you go about toppling someone that powerful.

They arrested him for not showing up for a parole hearing while he was, you know, recovering in Germany from being poisoned by the FSB hit squad.  They could put him in prison for quite some time.  Putin is shameless.

[Giraffe]

5 minutes ago, Xan said:

I can't pretend to understand.  Putin is dangerous and Navalny will end up being killed eventually.  It's a level of bravery that I'm not sure I'd have. 

I agree it’s only a matter of time before he’s killed. The only thing I can think of is he has loved ones he wants to see one last time. 

[trekkie6094404]

Yes, he’d return for family. For all we know evil Putin is holding Navalny’s family hostage and demanded he return to Russia to spare them.

[Xan]

10 minutes ago, trekkie6094404 said:

Yes, he’d return for family. For all we know evil Putin is holding Navalny’s family hostage and demanded he return to Russia to spare them.

I think he's got a couple of daughters and he has, of course, extended family in Russia.  His wife traveled with him to Germany but they didn't arrest her upon their return.

I think he's doing this so Putin will get the disapproval of other countries for his behavior.  I know that there's a planned natural gas pipeline between Germany and Russia that's worth about $11.6 billion.  There's always a chance that Merkel will try to hold that up or cancel it.  After Magnitsky was killed, we instituted the Magnitsky sanctions against Russia so they couldn't get money or investments out of the US and couldn't travel as freely here.  Maybe Navalny is hoping for something like that to come of his arrest -- and anything worse.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Xan

[Xan]

Navalny has had his people release a video on YouTube about Putin's "Palace".  Apparently, Putin has been building a huge mansion/complex.  It's a 17,691 square meter castle with an outdoor amphitheater and an underground skating rink.  It's reputed to cost $1.4 billion.

I haven't watched it yet as it's a couple of hours long.  It has already been viewed over 25 million times.  CNN did have pics that were taken by Navalny's anti-corruption foundation's drones.  Putin is, of course, denying that it's his and that it cost that much.  Navalny said that he was waiting to release it after he got back to Russia from Germany as he didn't think it was as effective to be sniping at Putin from outside the country.

Navalny says that the property was financed by donations from oligarchs via Swiss bank accounts.  

Spoiler

Link to the CNN article:

Spoiler

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/20/europe/putin-palace-navalny-russia-intl/index.html

 

[Xan]

I can't edit so I'm just doing another post.  The video is up on YouTube.  I'm not sure whether we can link to it so just look for "Putin's Palace".  it now has over 52 million views.  It's subtitled in English and I figure Putin will figure out soon how to pull it down.  I'm still watching it but it's pretty interesting.  Putin is quite the crook.

It looks as if he's been stealing money from the country for over 20 years.  He's taken bribes and he charges for licensing.  Many exports go through companies he or his friends control and they end up with a lot of the money.  Gazprom, the state-owned natural gas company, is decreasing in value because they've taken out the incoming capital.  He appears to be robbing his own people.

[Audrey2]

26 minutes ago, Xan said:

I can't edit so I'm just doing another post.  The video is up on YouTube.  I'm not sure whether we can link to it so just look for "Putin's Palace".  it now has over 52 million views.  It's subtitled in English and I figure Putin will figure out soon how to pull it down.  I'm still watching it but it's pretty interesting.  Putin is quite the crook.

It looks as if he's been stealing money from the country for over 20 years.  He's taken bribes and he charges for licensing.  Many exports go through companies he or his friends control and they end up with a lot of the money.  Gazprom, the state-owned natural gas company, is decreasing in value because they've taken out the incoming capital.  He appears to be robbing his own people.

I just hope he has an ornate guest house for his BFF Donnie when Donnie gets run out of Mar a Lago.

[AmazonGrace]

Several protests today 

 

 

 

[Xan]

I watched the Navalny video today.  (It's about two hours with subtitles.)  Navalny's team did a very thorough dive on Putin's finances.  He's been building a palace near the Black Sea.  It has an indoor theater (complete with stage), a casino, a hockey rink, a private entertainment room with a stage featuring a pole for, presumably, pole dancing.  On either side of the palace grounds, Putin has vineyards and each has a winery.  Classical music is piped in improve the quality of the wine.  

The furniture in the palace mostly came from Italy and everything is just about as gaudy as Trump's furnishings but much more expensive.  Putin paid over $1200 for a toilet paper holder for one room in one of the winery buildings.  We can only assume that every bathroom has that or better.

Putin acquired a mistress in the 90's along with another daughter.  About ten years later, he found another mistress -- a former gymnast -- and she's now installed as the head of a large company.  Both mistresses, the extra daughter, and the mistresses' mothers all have been given property.  Putin's two daughters by his legal wife both have yachts and airplanes as well as expensive homes.

The oligarchs, some of whom are childhood or school friends, "donate" money to his shell companies.  These oligarchs also do business with Russia-owned companies and give kickbacks to Putin.  Some of this came out in the Panama Papers reports.  The palace construction was reported several years ago by one oligarch who felt that Putin have overreached.

The video has now been seen over 72 million times and the Russians are marching in the streets today.  I fear for Navalny's safety but I understand now why he feels that Putin's schemes need to be uncovered.  Putin is stealing billions from Russia every year.

It's a good thing that Trump is so stupid.  If he were smarter, he'd have been able to keep himself in power forever like his good buddy, Vlad.

[AmericanRose]

"Classical music is piped in improve the quality of the wine."

I just... if I was Russian, I would be on fire with anger right now.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Xan]

As many of you have probably read, Navalny has been on a hunger strike protesting lack of medical care for some of his ailments.  As his conditions worsened, there were beginning to be more protests and complaints about his lack of care from other countries.  Now they've taken him to a hospital.  We still don't know if he's getting adequate medical attention.

I have wondered if Navalny still has trouble from the poisoning and has decided. by returning to Russia and allowing himself to be captured, that it would be better to have his death blamed on Putin.  If so, he has a level of bravery that I could never manage.

From "The Guardian" online:

Spoiler

Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a prison hospital as concerns have grown among supporters that the opposition leader is dangerously ill and could die “at any minute”.

Navalny’s transfer came after his doctors released paperwork showing that the Kremlin critic, who has been on hunger strike for nearly three weeks, said he was in danger of a heart attack or kidney failure.

In a statement on Monday, Russia’s prisons service said a doctors’ committee had decided to transfer Navalny to an infirmary in another prison in the Vladimir region that “specialises in dynamic monitoring of similar patients”.

“Currently Navalny’s health is evaluated as satisfactory, he is being examined daily by a doctor. With his agreement he has been prescribed vitamin therapy,” it said

His doctors and other representatives do not know what regime has been prescribed and whether he freely consented to it.

Navalny’s supporters say the authorities are hiding information about his condition and described the infirmary in the IK-3 prison colony as specialising in critically ill tuberculosis patients.

“This needs to be recognised as showing that Navalny’s condition has worsened,” wrote Ivan Zhdanov, the head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. “And it’s gotten so much worse that even the torture chamber has admitted it.”

Navalny’s top aides have announced large protests in his support on Wednesday, setting up a potential clash between demonstrators and police. Late last week, Moscow’s prosecutor applied to a court to recognise his organisation to be recognised as extremist, threatening to liquidate his regional headquarters and investigative operation if it is approved.

Another of Navalny’s top allies, Vladimir Milov, announced on Monday he had fled Russia for Europe to avoid possible arrest ahead of the rally.

“We consulted with our colleagues and decided that it is better for me not to be arrested now, because my area of work is very important,” Milov said in a live webcast from the Navalny Live YouTube channel. Many of Navalny’s leading supporters in Russia have been put under house arrest as part of ongoing investigations into a series of opposition protests from January.

On Monday, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said “we make the Russian authorities responsible for the health situation of Mr Navalny”, as the US has threatened consequences if Navalny were to die in prison.

Borrell’s remarks came ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, where European envoys are expected to discuss Navalny’s case and growing tensions with Moscow over a military buildup on the Ukrainian border, as well as revelations of a suspected GRU plot behind a deadly explosion at a Czech ammunition warehouse in 2014.

There are few signs the Kremlin is willing to relent or give in to demands by the US president, Joe Biden, and other western leaders for Navalny to be released from custody. On Sunday, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, accused Navalny of attention-seeking behaviour.

“He will not be allowed to die in prison, but I can say that Mr Navalny, he behaves like a hooligan, absolutely,” Kelin told the BBC. The ambassador added: “His purpose for all of that is to attract attention for him[self].”