Review: Thriller about Putin and his people’s worst enemy

Novogok in underwear.

As for the portrait of President Vladimir Putin, there is a previous photo and one after the attempted assassination of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in August last year. Until then, one could, albeit reluctantly, give him some Style Points for his brutal, calculated play. One trick was to get opponents out of the way in a way that could not be misunderstood. Traces of the killers lead nowhere, and everyone still knows where the matter came from.

But Navalny became a dash in the bill. It has been for a long time, his discoveries about corruption within the Russian elite have spread higher and closer to Putin himself, and the tactic of urging supporters to vote in various local elections for candidates with a greater chance of winning has strained existence. United Russia Party.

Toxic attack against It was in Omsk that he brilliantly solved all the problems, but Navalny not only survived, but also brazenly managed to persuade one of the concerned FSB agents to confess in a recorded phone call the whole miserable story.

When he, in defiant victory, returned to Russia from security in Europe, the whole world could see the Kremlin’s chromophore flashing. Suddenly he was not cool anymore, and he immediately threw Navalny into prison, called his movement extremist and began to persecute them mercilessly. That’s enough to ensure United Russia wins this fall’s parliamentary elections — but the man’s avatar in the Kremlin will forever be a shadow over a pair of blue underwear.

Putin, the failed poisonous killer.

Kali Knivella, the Seedsvinskan reporter in Russia has a mind for timing. Soon after Russia occupied Crimea, he published a book about all those who voted on wet and dry terms for Russia’s leader: “Putin’s People”. And now, while the fallout from Navalny’s popular fire continues, “Putin’s worst enemy” is coming, a story about the opposition leader himself and his anti-corruption fund FBK.

It’s fast Written, of course, and contains no real news for those who have followed the events in the media, but the story is quite astonishing with its high stakes, dirty plots, and dramatic actors that turn the pages as in a thrilling agent thriller. It culminates in big politics: In the hospital room in Germany where poisoned Navalny is miraculously recovering, Angela Merkel wanders around asking how he’s doing. in Russian.

It also feels a bit skinny. Kniivilä is well-versed and well-connected, but it would have taken a few more months to deepen the image of both Navalny himself and his brilliant opposition movement, which has gained wings online and really lacks a political platform.

Most rewarding are short interviews with several activists about behind-the-scenes work – as well as with the occasional critic. All Navalny’s followers are not indifferent to his appearance and arrogant thoughts, they are very angry at the way he is treated, and, of course, are fed up with all the inherent corruption. While those who watch mainly Russian state television, perhaps half of all Russians, see him only as a clown desecrating the country. Kniivilä mentions disappointing numbers about how many people they think must suffer somewhere out of sight. bone.

danger too About to do just that. Putin will likely forget this scandal, and Knivalny points out that Navalny is in fact an enemy of power far more dangerous than the old dissidents in the Soviet Union. They acted as brave individuals, while he has access to a broad base of young, upbeat people throughout Russia.

Knevilla writes that an authoritarian regime rests on three legs: money, lies, and oppression. During Putin’s first ten years, people’s money and living standards rose, but after the drop in oil prices, only the last two remained. It does not bode well either for Navalny, Russia or poor neighbours.

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