Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

[7][8][9] Opposition figures claim that a number of laws have been passed and other measures taken by Putin's government to prevent them from having any electoral success.

The Guardian's report from Luke Harding noted that during the 2000s Neo-Nazis, Russian nationalists, and ultranationalist groups were the most significant opposition to Putin's government.

[10] Prominent Russian liberal opposition figure Alexei Navalny said before his 2020 poisoning that the Kremlin was "far more afraid of ultra-nationalists than they were of him", noting that "[the ultranationalists] use the same imperial rhetoric as Putin does, but they can do it much better than him".

[11] On 4 March 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading "fake news" about Russia's military operation in Ukraine;[12] thousands of Russians have been prosecuted under this law for criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine,[13] including opposition politician Ilya Yashin and artist Aleksandra Skochilenko.

[14] Persecution was directed against pro-democracy and anti-war Russians, while criticism of the Putin regime by pro-war activists and ultranationalists was largely ignored.

[16] In 2022 and 2023 Political experts in Russia and in the United States have described the far-right ultranationalist opposition to Putin as possibly "the most serious challenge" to the Russian regime.

For example, in Moscow in the spring of 2012 saw a series of flash mobs "White Square", when protesters walked through the Red Square with white ribbons,[23] in the late spring and summer, they organized the protest camp "Occupy Abay" and autumn they held weekly "Liberty walks" with the chains symbolizing solidarity with political prisoners.

[citation needed] On the other hand, a small part of liberals (the party of "Democratic Choice") consider elections as the main tool to achieve their political goals.

A large number of human rights defenders and community leaders have declared the detainees innocent and the police responsible for the clashes.

[34][35] For the rally on 15 December 2012, the anniversary of the mass protests against rigged elections, the organizers failed to agree with the authorities, and participation was low.

[41] An intention to hike the retirement age has drastically downed the rating of the President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Russia.

[47] On 9 July 2020, the popular governor of the Khabarovsk Krai, Sergei Furgal, who defeated the candidate of Putin's United Russia party in elections two years ago, was arrested and flown to Moscow.

[69] On 17 March, Putin gave a speech in which he called opponents of the war "scum and traitors," saying that a "natural and necessary self-cleansing of society will only strengthen our country.

[76] In October 2023, Putin's close associate Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the State Duma, said that Russians who "desire the victory of the murderous Nazi Kyiv regime" should be sent to the far-eastern region of Magadan, known for its Stalin-era Gulag camps, and forced to work in the mines.

[78] In response to the invasion of Ukraine, numerous armed pro-democratic, and anti-authoritarian partisan and insurgent groups have sprung up within Russia in open rebellion with the aim of sabotaging the war effort and overthrowing Putin and his regime.

Prigozhin vowed to march on Moscow and arrest Shoigu, and other Russian generals, and put them on trial for murder of Wagner personnel.

[92][88][89] Leader of the opposition Alexei Navalny dismissed the legitimacy of the poll and denounced the changes, saying that they would make Putin "president for life".

[92] Journalist Yekaterina Duntsova tried to run in the 2024 election on a platform opposing the war in Ukraine, commenting: "Any sane person taking this step would be afraid - but fear must not win".

[100][101] However, she was quickly barred from running by the Central Election Commission, which claimed that she had made '100 mistakes' such as spelling errors on her forms and so should be denied registration.

[100] The nationalist and previously pro-Putin Igor Girkin, who also attempted to become a candidate, openly declared that the election was a "sham", stating that "the only winner is known in advance" and "I understand perfectly well that in the current situation in Russia, participating in the presidential campaign is like sitting down at a table to play with card sharps".

[109][110][108] Footage showed how many thousands had queued even in the snow to sign their names, and he garnered "surprise levels of support", especially from younger urban Russians.

[112] In what was described as something "seemingly unachievable in Russian politics",[113] Nadezhdin managed to unify many prominent opposition politicians and public figures behind his campaign and gained their endorsements: Yekaterina Duntsova (who had previously been barred[114][115]), Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Ekaterina Schulmann, Yulia Navalnaya (wife of Alexei Navalny), Ilya Varlamov, Lyubov Sobol and many others.

[123][124][125] The CEC regularly uses the process of having to collect signatures to refuse to register would-be opposition candidates, acting as a form of filter to stop unwanted developments for the Kremlin.

[108] His team said that some of the "errors" the election commission had claimed existed were merely minor typos that happened when handwritten names were put into its computers.

[130] The press contacted the man whose address had been incorrectly entered as 'Rostov-on-Dom', and he confirmed he had indeed added his signature in support of Nadezhdin's candidacy, saying "this constitutes election obstruction".

[129] As well as endorsing Nadezhdin, Alexei Navalny and his allies had called on supporters to protest Putin during the third day of the presidential election by all going to vote against him at the same time.

[142][140] She refused to negotiate and demanded authorities complied with the law obliging investigators to hand over the body within two days of determining the causes of death.

[144] The authorities belatedly returned Navalny's body eight days after his death,[140] and upon his burial on Moscow thousands defied likely repression to appear in the streets to chant his name and their opposition to Putin.

[144] After Navalny's death his wife Yulia Navalnaya said that she would continue his work, asking Russians to "stand beside me" and "share the fury and hate for those who dared to kill our future".

[147][148][137] She appeared before the European Parliament on 28 February 2024 and was given a standing ovation for her emotional speech, in which she stated that defeating Putin requires innovation instead of only applying sanctions and resolutions against his regime.