Navalny praises protests, which aides say produced results

MOSCOW — Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said in an emotional message from behind bars Thursday that he felt “pride and hope” after learning from his lawyer about the mass protests demanding his freedom that swept Russia the previous night.

Meanwhile, Navalny’s doctors urged him to “immediately” end a prison hunger strike now in its fourth week “to save his life and health.” And a top aide said Wednesday night’s protests seemed to have succeeded in pressuring authorities to get him much-needed medical attention, which Navalny had demanded when he launched his hunger strike.

In an Instagram post Thursday, Navalny called people who turned out to protest in his support “the salvation of Russia.”

The 44-year-old said he hadn’t known “what was really happening” outside the prison because he only has access to one TV channel behind bars, but his lawyer visited him on Thursday and got him up to speed about the demonstrations. “And, I will sincerely say, two feelings are raging inside me: pride and hope.”

“People are marching in the street. It means they know and understand everything,” said Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent. “They won’t give up their future, the future of their children, their country. Yes, it will be difficult and dark for some time. But those pulling Russia back historically are doomed. There are more of us in any case. Russia will be happy.”

Navalny was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin — accusations Russian officials reject.

Soon after, a court found that the politician’s stay in Germany violated the terms of his suspended sentence for a 2014 embezzlement conviction, and ordered him to serve 2 1/2 years in prison.

The mass street protests in support of Navalny — which authorities had declared unlawful earlier in the week — swept dozens of cities and smaller towns across Russia. The largest crowds were seen in Moscow, where thousands marched down the city centre amid a heavy police presence.

Unlike on past occasions, officers in riot gear didn’t interfere with the rally in the Russian capital, allowing quickly growing crowds to swarm streets and squares for several hours. According to OVD-Info, a rights group that monitors political arrests and offers legal aid, police detained only 31 people in Moscow, which usually accounts for the vast majority of arrests across the country.

But overall, OVD-Info tallied more than 1,900 arrests across the country on Wednesday night, with more than 800 occurring in St. Petersburg. While some violent detentions, with police using stun guns, were reported in St. Petersburg, in many cities the demonstrations went on without clashes with law enforcement.

Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s top strategist and chief of staff, maintained in the YouTube live stream about the protests that Wednesday’s turnout exceeded that of the nationwide protests that broke out in January after Navalny was arrested. The number of arrests was significantly lower.

Independent political analyst and former Kremlin speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov believes the turnout, somewhat comparable to that in January, indicates that the harsh crackdown that followed previous demonstrations hasn’t scared off Navalny’s supporters.

Hundreds were jailed in the aftermath of the January demonstrations, and a number of Navalny allies were slapped with criminal charges for allegedly violating coronavirus restrictions.

“In recent months, the authorities have made very serious attempts to (discourage protests) by tightening the screws, and many — including me — had serious concerns that much fewer people would turn up,” Gallyamov told The Associated Press Thursday.

Navalny’s aides and associates in different Russian regions, in the meantime, were targeted with detentions and raids both before and after the protests. Many were jailed, and one was reportedly brutally beaten by police that came to search his apartment.

Gallyamov said this indicated a change of tactics for the authorities, from sweeping crackdowns on all demonstrators to targeting suspected protest leaders, in order to defuse tensions.

Navalny began the hunger strike to protest prison authorities’ refusal to let his doctors visit when he began experiencing severe back pain and numbness in his legs. Officials insisted Navalny was getting all the medical help he needs. But Navalny’s doctors said last week that the politician could be near death, as his test results showed sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on cardiac arrest, and heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidneys.

On Sunday, Navalny was transferred from a penal colony east of Moscow to the hospital ward of another prison in Vladimir, a city 180 kilometres (110 miles) east of the capital. At the same time, his allies called the Wednesday protest saying his life was at stake.

On Thursday Navalny’s personal physician Dr. Anastasia Vasilyeva released a letter she signed with four other doctors, urging him to end his hunger strike.

The letter revealed that on Tuesday Navalny was taken to a regular hospital in Vladimir, where he underwent tests and was examined by specialists “in accordance” with requests from his team of doctors. It said they were given the results of those tests and exams through Navalny’s lawyers and family.

While continuing to insist on access to their patient, Navalny’s doctors urged him “to immediately stop the hunger strike in order to save life and health,” adding that they consider being examined by “civilian,” non-prison doctors and undergoing “objective tests” enough to end the strike.

Volkov in a tweet Thursday attributed the development to the pressure Navalny’s supporters put on the authorities, first by calling a demonstration and then by making it happen.

“As soon as the protest was announced, Alexei was taken for a multidisciplinary medical exam to a civilian hospital in Vladimir, and had a large amount of tests. As soon as the protest happened, today, all of a sudden, we were given all the test results.”

Daria Litvinova, The Associated Press