Support The Moscow Times!

Navalny's Offices Raided Across Russia Ahead of Anti-Election Rally

Evgeny Feldman

A dozen campaign offices belonging to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s have been vandalized or searched by police ahead of a nationwide protest later this month. 

Navalny has called for a mass rally on Jan. 28 to protest against Russia’s upcoming presidential elections in March. The opposition leader said he would lead an election boycott after he was barred from running as a candidate due to a prior fraud conviction that his supporters dismiss as politically motivated.

“Eleven offices have sustained damage over the past two to three days,” Navalny’s campaign spokesman Ruslan Shaveddinov told the Novaya Gazeta investigative newspaper on Thursday. 

“We tie this directly to our voters’ boycott” on Jan. 28, he said. 

Later on Thursday, a twelfth office was attacked in Samara by “cops” who forced their way in and damaged property, local campaign coordinator Katerina Gerasimova reported on Twitter. 

Navalny’s chief of staff Leonid Volkov called the attack “an act of intimidation undoubtedly sanctioned at the federal level” in a Twitter post. 

Meanwhile, Russia’s Constitutional Court has declined to hear Navalny’s petition to declare Russia’s election law unconstitutional, the Kommersant business newspaper reported Friday. The law bans candidates with past criminal convictions from running as candidates. 

According to a Human Rights Watch report published Thursday, Navalny’s campaign staff have been subject to physical assault, beatings and detentions on groundless charges throughout 2017.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more