Alexey Navalny is one of the most notorious Russian politicians, businessman, lawyer, born in the Moscow region (Odintsovo district, Butyn), 06/04/1976.

Childhood

Alexey’s father is Ukrainian by origin, graduated from a military school and after several years of service received a transfer to Moscow. There he met his fate - a simple Russian girl originally from Zelenograd near Moscow, who after school also moved to the capital. But the career she had hoped to build failed, and Lyudmila went to work at a woodworking plant.

Alexey in childhood

In the early 90s, when a severe crisis began in the country, Alexei’s parents managed to get their bearings and, on the basis of a bankrupt workshop, they created their own small enterprise that produced exclusive products from wicker. This allowed the family not only to stay afloat, but also to make their first capital.

Meanwhile, Alexey successfully completed school and also moved to Moscow. Before that, he lived most of the time with his grandmother, since his parents were practically not at home - they invested all their efforts in ensuring the financial well-being of the family.

Having graduated with an excellent certificate, Alexey submitted exams to the law department of Moscow State University, but he only needed one point to receive the coveted student card.

The next year he continued to actively prepare for exams, while helping his parents in business. This year played a decisive role in his future career in many ways. He did not give up his dream of becoming a lawyer, but at the same time became interested in economic disciplines.

A year later, the exams were passed successfully, and he began studying at the Institute of Friendship of Peoples. In his senior years, he simultaneously studies at the Government Finance Academy, choosing finance and lending as a specialization. Navalny was also one of the first in Russia to receive a diploma in stock exchange business and is a professional broker.

Career

Navalny began his career with a modest position as an ordinary lawyer at Aeroflot, where he was invited as a student after a successful internship. In 1998, he officially registered his first private company, Allekt LLC, but worked mainly for another company.

But a year later, immediately after defending his diploma, he begins to actively engage in his own business, while simultaneously continuing to build a career at Aeroflot. The young lawyer established himself as an excellent specialist there, and his deep knowledge of economic disciplines helped him solve the most complex problems at the highest level, and just a few years later he was included in the directors of Aeroflot.

Navalny began his political career in 2000, joining the Yabloko party. Quite quickly he showed his leadership qualities and already in 2004 he began to manage its Moscow regional branch. However, already in 2007, after a loud scandal with the leaders of the party, Navalny was expelled from its membership.

Then he creates another political movement, “The People,” and positions himself as a fighter for the rights of the people and against the abuse of power by officials. Several more public organizations are being created in this vein, and around the same period it begins to actively appear on television screens.

Having first appeared on the “Political Debates” program, Navalny interested the audience so much that he later became a regular participant.

Since 2008, Navalny has been actively involved in anti-corruption activities and even created a special committee. His attention in those years was directed to fraud with oil, which, contrary to all antimonopoly laws, was sold abroad only through one joint-stock company.

In order to have funds for independent investigations, a fund is established in which independent entrepreneurs invest.

In 2011, the object of research by Navalny’s company was Russian roads, which are still in a catastrophic state, despite constant funding for their repair. A year later, he would organize an independent election monitoring system.

At the same time, he is investigating and publicizing facts about the illegality of the acquisition of expensive real estate, airplanes and other luxury items by people whose official income does not allow them to do so.

Arrests

His investigations affect the interests of the highest echelons of power and, naturally, begin to irritate them greatly. But at first, “precautionary measures” were taken against him. Several times he was arrested for 15 days for illegally holding rallies.

But already in 2011, the first criminal case was opened against him, which, however, was dropped less than a year later due to the lack of corpus delicti.

In July 2013, by a court decision, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison and a half-million fine for the activities of the Kirovles company, of which he was one of the leaders. But this verdict had political motives. At that time, elections for the post of mayor were underway, and Navalny could well have won them. Later, his lawyers proved the sanctions were illegal, and Navalny was released.

The situation was repeated with precision in 2016, and again he receives a similar sentence, and again his lawyers prove the connection of this case with the political situation in the country. Nevertheless, Navalny is again seeking to have the sentence overturned, since he has openly declared his intention to take part in the 2018 presidential race.

According to unverified data, he can count on the support of 70% of voters.

Personal life

Navalny is married and values ​​his family very much. He met his future wife Julia while on vacation in Turkey in 2000. And very soon the young people got married. And a year later a girl was born into the family. In 2008, Navalny’s long-awaited son was born.

With his wife Yulia and children

Navalny's main activities are aimed at combating corruption. Among the most high-profile investigations of FBK Navalny and his team are the case of Igor Chaika (son of Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika), Vladimir Yakunin’s “fur storage facility,” Dmitry Peskov’s watch, Vladimir Pekhtin’s real estate, Sergei Shoigu’s mansion, Igor Shuvalov’s plane and “tsar-apartment,” “secret Empire" by Dmitry Medvedev. Navalny also actively advocated for ratification in Russia of Article 20 of the UN Convention, which provides for punishment for the illegal enrichment of officials.

In 2013, Navalny was found guilty in the “Kirovles case”, but three years later the European Court of Human Rights recognized the case as politically fabricated and sent the verdict for review, but the court again returned a guilty verdict.

In December 2016, Navalny announced his intention to take part in the 2018 presidential elections.

Childhood. Education

In 1993, Navalny’s parents opened a wicker weaving workshop in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region on the basis of a bankrupt factory, where Lyudmila Navalnaya had previously worked.

In 1994, the young man graduated from the Alabino school in the village of Kalininets near Moscow and entered the law faculty of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, missing one point for admission to Moscow State University. In 1999, he became a student at the Financial Academy under the Russian Government, studied at the Faculty of Finance and Credit, and in 2001 received a diploma in the specialty “Securities and Exchange Business”.

Much later, in 2010, he became a fellow of Yale University's Yale World Fellows program. Every year, the university selects about 15 gifted people, mostly from third world countries, and invites them to Yale for six months to study the global problems of our society.

Labor and business

Social and political activities

In 2007, Navalny was expelled from Yabloko. The reason given was “causing political damage to the party, in particular, through nationalist activities.” As Navalny himself stated, the real reason for his expulsion is the demand for the resignation of Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky.

In 2004, Navalny founded the “Committee for the Protection of Muscovites,” a citywide movement that opposes corruption in urban planning and the violation of citizens’ rights. A year later, Alexey, together with like-minded people, became the founders of a new youth movement called “YES!” He also began to coordinate the “Police with the People” project.

Since 2006, Navalny has coordinated the “Political Debates” project and acted as chief editor of the “Fight Club” program on TVC.

In 2007, he co-founded the national democratic movement “People” along with the writer Zakhar Prilepin and Sergei Gulyaev. It was planned that “People” would subsequently join the “Other Russia” coalition, but this did not happen.

Political debate between Navalny and Lebedev

In 2008, Navalny founded the Union of Minority Shareholders, an organization that defended the rights of private investors.

Navalny took part in the nationalist “Russian March” marches. In 2008, he witnessed the brutal detention of the leader of the “Slavic Union” Dmitry Demushkin by riot police, and was ready to defend him in court.

In 2008, information appeared about the creation of the “Russian National Movement”, which included the organizations “Great Russia”, “People”, and DPNI. Navalny stated that the movement plans to participate in the State Duma elections. But in 2011 the movement ceased activity.

Navalny's video in support of the People movement

In 2009, Navalny became a freelance adviser to the governor of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, who, as the site’s editors want to note, was arrested in the summer of 2016 on charges of taking a bribe.

Anti-corruption activities

At the end of 2010, Navalny announced the creation of the RosPil project, which intended to combat abuses in public procurement. By May 2011, the project reported on the discovery of fraud in state auctions amounting to 1.6 billion rubles, and with the help of RosPil participants, fraud amounting to 337 million rubles was stopped. The project received an award from the international blog competition The BOBs as the most useful resource for society.

In 2011, Navalny registered the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Economist Sergei Guriev and entrepreneurs Vladimir Ashurkov and Boris Zimin invested in the project.

“The Party of Crooks and Thieves” – the author of this famous Internet meme is Alexey Navalny. The phrase was born on February 2, 2011 on the air of Finam FM. Soon information appeared that ordinary party members were offended and were planning to sue. In response to this, Navalny initiated a poll on his blog: “Is United Russia a party of swindlers and thieves?” 96.6% of the respondents, whose total number was 40 thousand, answered “yes”.

Navalny on Fimam FM

In mid-2011, Alexei Navalny launched the Internet project “RosYama” within the framework of FBK, which was supposed to encourage the Russian authorities to improve the condition of roads in the country. On the project pages, users posted pictures of damaged roads, on the basis of which the system generated complaints to the traffic police. If there was no response within the required time frame, RosYama employees sent a letter to the prosecutor’s office.

At the beginning of 2012, Navalny and his team launched the RosVybory project to monitor the presidential elections. About 17 thousand observers took part in the project.

Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation positions itself as the only non-profit organization in Russia that investigates acts of corruption among the highest echelons of power.

The FBK has repeatedly come under the radar of the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, to whom the Foundation attributed the presence of a “modest” dacha near Domodedovo with an area of ​​several tens of hectares. Most of all, Internet users were struck by a separate room given over to a “fur storage room.”

A lot of noise was caused by Igor Shuvalov’s private plane discovered by Navalny, on which his Welsh Corgi dogs flew to exhibitions, as well as by the official’s purchase of apartments on one floor of an elite high-rise building on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. FBK estimated the total cost of apartments in pre-renovation condition at 600 million rubles.

Navalny in the Moscow mayoral elections

And about. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin commented on Navalny’s actions as follows: “To be honest, I don’t know what prospects candidate Navalny has. We did everything possible to register him so that Muscovites would have the opportunity to have a greater choice among candidates for mayor of Moscow.”

Prosecutions. The Kirovles case

After this action, Navalny and like-minded people went to an unauthorized march to the Russian Central Election Commission, where he was detained by the police. The next day, Navalny was found guilty of resisting law enforcement officers and sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest. Navalny was released on December 21.

On May 9, 2012, Navalny was again sentenced to arrest for 15 days. This time – for participation in an illegal public event on Kudrinskaya Square, the so-called People’s festivities,” which became a mass sign of protest against the dispersal of the “March of Millions” that took place earlier, on May 6. The march participants were unhappy with the fact of Vladimir Putin's inauguration. Navalny appealed this detention and arrest to the European Court of Human Rights.

In May 2011, a criminal case was opened against Alexei Navalny under Art. 165 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “causing property damage by deception or abuse of trust.” The point was that Navalny and businessman Pyotr Ofitserov, the owner of the Vyatka Forestry Company, allegedly misled the director of the State Unitary Enterprise Kirovles, Vyacheslav Opalev, as a result of which he signed a contract unfavorable for his enterprise and suffered damage of 16 million rubles.

Navalny denied guilt, citing bias in the case, since shortly before this he had presented information on cuttings at Transneft on his blog, and also accused Opalev of “creating completely unthinkable schemes” for the sale of timber. According to Navalny, he achieved the dismissal of Opalev and a full audit of Kirovles, which was the reason for initiating the case.

Navalny: “The truth about Russia, power and Putin”, 2011

After the proceedings, the case was dismissed on April 10, 2012. The reason is the lack of evidence of a crime. It was later resumed by order of the leaders of the Investigative Committee. However, on May 29 of the same year, the order to terminate the case was canceled.

The case came back to court in April 2013. The testimony of prosecution witnesses indicated that the cooperation of Kirovles with VLK was unprofitable for the former. However, VLK’s partners testified that the timber was shipped to them at market prices, and they have no complaints against both defendants in the case. The governor of the Kirov region, Belykh, who spoke at the trial, also stated that the activities of VLK did not harm the region.

On July 18, 2013, Navalny was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine (500 thousand rubles), Ofitserov was sentenced to four years in prison and a similar fine. The sentence was carried out during Navalny's election campaign for the mayoral elections.

During the appeal hearing that took place the next day, Navalny and Ofitserov were released on their own recognizance. During further consideration, violations were discovered when making a guilty decision, and the real terms were replaced with suspended sentences while maintaining the fine. Alexey Navalny appealed to the ECHR, which in February 2016 confirmed the violation of the rights of the accused in the Kirovles case, but did not recognize the case as politically motivated, as Navalny and Ofitserov’s lawyers insisted.

The Kirovles case: Navalny’s last word

At the end of 2016, the court again began considering the Kirovles case. The new sentence, according to Navalny, repeated the previous one verbatim. The defendants were again sentenced to 4 and 5 years probation. On the same day, the ECHR condemned the verdict, calling the goal of the entire process to exclude Navalny from the country’s political process.

Alexey Navalny 2018

Alexei Navalny aims to run for president

In March 2017, the Foundation posted on YouTube a 50-minute film “He’s Not Dimon to You,” which was an investigation into a “multi-level corruption scheme” with the participation of Dmitry Medvedev. Three weeks later, rallies of thousands took place across Russia, with participants demanding answers from Medvedev about the information contained in the video.

“He’s not your Dimon”

On March 26, during an unauthorized rally on Tverskaya Street, Alexei Navalny was detained by law enforcement agencies. He was given a fine (20 thousand rubles) for organizing an unauthorized rally, and was also given 15 days of administrative arrest for “resisting the lawful demands of a police officer.”

On June 12, Russia was swept by a second wave of opposition rallies. This time, Alexey did not have time to leave the entrance when he was detained by the police. The Simonovsky District Court of Moscow arrested him for 30 days, accusing him of multiple violations of the rules for holding rallies: on the evening of June 11, he called on supporters to go to an unauthorized procession on Tverskaya Street, where a festival of re-enactors was taking place at that time, instead of the agreed rally on Sakharov Avenue. In total, more than 800 people were detained during the opposition rally in Moscow.

As part of the election campaign, the politician held a number of large-scale rallies in Russian cities.

The Central Electoral Commission refused to register Navalny for the presidential election due to his criminal record in the Kirovles case, despite the decision of the ECHR recognizing him as politically engaged. After this, Alexey called for a boycott of the elections and named the date of the all-Russian voter strike - January 28.

How Mikhail Prokhorov bought a villa from Alexander Khloponin

For the rally against the inauguration of Vladimir Putin “He is not your king” (held on May 5, 2018), ten days later, Navalny was arrested for 30 days. The election campaign ended, and FBK returned to its main activities: it caught Mikhail Prokhorov in bribing Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin, found a Parisian apartment for 2 million euros from propagandist Aram Gabrelyanov, etc.

Personal life of Alexei Navalny

For a long time, the couple lived in a small apartment in one of the panel houses on Lyublinskaya Street, Maryino. However, at the end of 2016, the oppositionist announced that he was looking for housing to rent, as his grown-up children began to feel cramped living in one room.

Alexey Navalny now

FBK: Apartment and business of Vyacheslav Volodin’s mother

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The Russian opposition, as a kind of generalized social movement, suffers from a number of systemic defects. Disunity, ambiguity in assessments of emerging situations and their changes, differences in political platforms and goals - this is an incomplete list of factors that form the weakness of the influence of forces opposing the existing government, which, nevertheless, all their leaders characterize as “criminal” and “bloody.” At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, a new figure appeared on the Russian political scene - Navalny. Who is this, what are the ambitions of this figure and why did he decide to lead the opposition movement? What are his goals, what is he calling for? Surveys conducted in Russia showed that half of the country's population did not even know who he was. It's time to fill this gap.

Opposition is constructive and destructive

In modern Russia, protest sentiments have a certain social base, as in any other country. Not a single state has yet managed to create an ideal society; there are dissatisfied people everywhere, and it is the opposition that always seeks to take advantage of unfavorable factors. In essence, this is its political role: criticism of shortcomings, even very angry, helps to improve the work of government agencies. Several other goals were pursued by the opposition, which set itself destructive goals. For example, during the First World War, the Bolshevik Party tried in every possible way to weaken the state and destroy its foundations. All means were suitable for this, including undermining defenses, using money received from the enemy and direct sabotage. Every state, even one that positions itself as the most democratic, has the right to fight the forces seeking to destroy it. Moreover, it is his duty to society. So what goals does Alexey Navalny set for the political movement he leads in modern Russia? Who supports and funds?

Early Russian opposition

The history of the emergence of the modern Russian opposition begins at the very end of the 80s. Most of its representatives sincerely fought the communist regime, were in prison, served exile and proudly called themselves dissidents. Even then, it was divided into “wings” - left and right, but, regardless of orientation, it joyfully welcomed the coming to power of democratic forces led by B. N. Yeltsin. Not all oppositionists fully corresponded to the image of a zealot for the people's aspirations, which is why the first problems arose. In the vastness of the former USSR, meanwhile, a struggle for souls and power unfolded. Presidents and prime ministers in post-Soviet countries were people who were trained in the United States (this biographical fact was perceived quite positively by the population at that time). Personnel known to be friendly to the West were also trained for Russia. Judging by the support provided, M. Kasyanov, B. Nemtsov or G. Yavlinsky were considered the best representatives of the set of promising democratic-liberal leaders in the United States.

Appearance

Opposition figures like G. Novodvorskaya, and even the famous chess player G. Kasparov were not considered promising political figures; their images did not correspond to the depth of the task. But the respectable and experienced leaders of the Yeltsin era, proven and loyal to the West, were also not suitable. The fact that they were already in power, and quite recently, spoke eloquently against them. The politicians and economists of Yeltsin’s set did not bring anything good to the people, and this has not yet been forgotten. A reboot was required. A new leader was needed who would be able to unite the disunited opposition forces, would have a certain charisma, high intelligence, a sarcastic and ironic mindset and could speak beautifully, in other words, would command the audience. Moreover, such a person, ideally, should actually be deprived of a past. And such a candidate was found, his name was Alexei Navalny. No one knew who he was. Just an author-blogger. But

Family of the oppositionist

Alexey Anatolyevich's parents are ordinary people. Father is a communications officer, a graduate of the Kyiv Military School. Mother studied at the Ordzhonikidze Administration). Born in 1976, the son of a military man and future oppositionist often changed cities and schools. Currently, my parents own a small business producing wicker products. Alexey also has a younger brother, Oleg, born in 1984, but more about him later. Wife - Yulia Borisovna. There are two children, Daria (born in 2001) and Zakhar (born in 2008). In general, family is like family. Alexey Navalny lives in Maryino (a Moscow district that is not particularly prestigious). Modesty adorns a politician, especially a young one.

Studies

After graduating from the Alabino school at the military town, the young man entered the law school, from which he graduated in 1998. Alexei Navalny managed to work in a bank, and a year before graduating from university he showed a passion for commerce, becoming the founder of the Nesna society (hairdressing salon). Things didn’t work out, the company was sold, but the search for a better life continued. The young man received a second higher education at the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation at the Faculty of Finance and Credit, becoming a specialist in stock exchange and securities. The thirst for learning manifested itself once again in 2010, when he managed to complete a course of study in six months (the Yale World Fellows grant program) in the USA at Yale University. Recommendations for the novice politician were given by venerable Russian oppositionists E. Albats, O. Tsyvinsky, S. Guriev and G. Kasparov. They were known in America, their words were listened to.

Labor path

Allekt LLC was registered in 1997 as an agent of the opposition SPS. It was engaged in advertising, its activities were not very successful, despite the fact that the “Right Forces” paid for its services in the amount of almost one hundred million rubles, of which deputy director Navalny received five percent as a remuneration. Who will consider this a violation of the law or financial discipline? Currently, Allect LLC has been liquidated. The same fate befell the law firm “N. N. Securities”, co-founded by Alexey Anatolyevich and his friends from law school. Since 2001, Euro-Asian Transport Systems LLC, in the creation of which Navalny took part, has been providing logistics and transport services. The company also liquidated itself. In 2009, he became a lawyer, passing the exam in the city of Kirov, and even conducted two trials. During the same period, the Navalny and Partners company did not exist for long. In 2012, he was promoted to a responsible post at Aeroflot by A. Lebedev, who owns the NRB bank. When elected, the protégé promised to wage an uncompromising fight against corruption. A year later, Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny left this post, apparently not of his own free will.

The beginning of big politics

Showing great energy in the business sphere, Alexey Anatolyevich was involved in active political activities. The fight against corruption is a win-win business; it can be done endlessly, but it is very difficult to evaluate the effectiveness. Since 2004, the “Committee for the Protection of Muscovites” has been carrying out this difficult socially useful work. Since 2005, it has been supplemented by concerns about youth (the “Yes!” movement) and leadership of the “Police with the People” movement. His political career began in collaboration with the Governor of the Kirov Region N. Belykh (freelance adviser) and the Foundation for Support of His Initiatives.

Then there was Yabloko (member of the political council) and the post of head of the Moscow party organization. In 2007, Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny was scandalously expelled from the party for extreme nationalism. He himself explained this incident by his confrontation with Yavlinsky.

Nationalism

The national idea is almost as winning, especially when combined with democratic slogans. In Moscow, from time to time, one or another carefully choreographed “Russian” march took place. Navalny could be seen in almost every one of them. However, by 2013, excessive scandal (zagging, raging young people and other hooligans created an unfavorable background) prompted the politician to temporarily refuse to participate in mass nationalist events. Criticism of the “Putin regime” became the main focus of the “People” movement, which, however, turned out to be not as numerous as its creators wanted. Navalny, whose photo had already been published by almost all media, tried to unite his organization with the “Other Russia”, but was rejected. Nevertheless, the image of an uncompromising fighter against corruption has already been established; in the election of the capital's mayor, the opposition candidate came out on top. But then the Yves Rocher case suddenly arose, significantly spoiling the heroic image.

Brotherly help

Oleg Navalny, the brother of the oppositionist, worked as an automation specialist and head of the domestic mail department at Russian Post, and then decided to start his own business and quit in 2013. It was he who was able to convince representatives of the Yves Rocher company not to use the services of the public service anymore (and it, obviously, did not work in the best way), but to entrust their sending and receiving to the private company GPA, which actually belonged to his brother. The price, of course, turned out to be higher, but then the reliability... So, at least, Oleg Navalny said. And he won the favor of foreigners. In fact, no one was going to carry letters, parcels and parcels. When receiving cargo for shipment, the Navalny brothers entrusted the troublesome task to other transport companies, which charged much less for services. For some time this simple scheme functioned successfully, but sooner or later everything secret becomes clear. Either the deadlines were not met, or something was missing, but the French suspected something was wrong. Then they made their claims and off they went. In total, the Navalny brothers defrauded their clients by 24 million. The case went to court and received international publicity. Protests immediately began in connection with the oppression of the opposition in Russia.

Punishment

The court's sentence cannot be called too severe. In Soviet times, they could easily have been shot for this, and the faithful “ten” shone even during Gorbachev’s rule, when almost anything was possible. Oleg Navalny received a real sentence of 3.5 years, and his brother, an anti-corruption oppositionist and champion of honesty, got off with a suspended sentence. The court apparently took into account his merits in the fight against theft. The accomplices will also have to pay a fine of 4,800,000 rubles. You have to understand that such a small thing won’t matter.

Reaction to the case

Of course, the liberal public is still trying to convince the Russian population that it was for the fight against the regime that Navalny suffered. The rally followed the rally during the consideration of the court case, then the activity decreased, but has not reached zero even today. The image of a victim has always evoked massive sympathy in our country, and many of the statements of the disgraced politician evoke a lively response in the hearts of people. Indeed, not everything is in order in Russia with migration legislation, and there are plenty of other problems.

Who is guilty?

The Navalny case is being exaggerated by the pro-Western and liberal media, it is called fabricated, but the participation of a deceived foreign defendant in it significantly undermines the position of defenders of civil liberties.

There is nothing sweeter for the leader of the Russian opposition than the feeling of sacrifice combined with defiance. It was in this direction that Alexey Navalny showed emotions. A photo of his defiantly cut electronic bracelet spread across the Internet in early 2014 after the suspended sentence came into force and the need for house arrest disappeared. For some reason they really didn’t manage to remove this device in time - and here it is, a reason for protest. However, there was no reaction from the “satraps”.

Another reason to appear on television was the murder of Boris Nemtsov. Many leaders of the “dissent movement,” including K. Sobchak and A. Navalny, reacted to this tragic event. The rally planned for the next day actually turned out to be a failure. The oppositionist usually places the blame for Nemtsov’s death on Putin.

He himself believes that he will be able to govern the country much more successfully after winning the next presidential elections.

Alexey Anatolyevich Navalny- a public figure, politician, positions himself as an investment activist involved in investigations of corruption in Russia, the creator of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, and the author of a popular blog on LiveJournal. In 2013, Alexei Navalny lost to Sergei Sobyanin in the Moscow mayoral elections. In December 2016, he announced that he was going to participate in the 2018 Russian presidential elections, building his election campaign on the same corruption investigations like the film about Dmitry Medvedev “He’s Not Your Dimon.”

The early years and education of Alexei Navalny

Alexey Navalny was born on June 4, 1976 in the military town of Butyn, Odintsovo district, Moscow region.

As Alexey Anatolyevich himself likes to tell, his family comes from Ukraine. Most of the relatives live in the Kyiv region and Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky. He himself feels partly Ukrainian.

Navalny's father Anatoly Ivanovich Navalny, was born and graduated from school in Zalesye (formerly Chernobyl district, now Ivankovsky district, Kiev region). Navalny Sr. graduated from the Kiev Military School of Communications. After graduating from college, he began serving in the Moscow region.

Navalny's mother - Lyudmila Ivanovna Navalnaya, originally from Zelenograd, Moscow region, studied at the Moscow Institute of Management named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze, worked as a laboratory assistant at the Zelenograd Research Institute of Microdevices. Currently, Navalny Alexey’s parents are co-owners of the Kobyakovskaya wicker weaving factory.

Grandfather - Ivan Tarasovich Navalny was a carpenter. Alexei's grandmother - Tatyana Danilovna. The old people worked all their lives on the local collective farm in Zalesye. Little Alyosha spent every summer until 1986 (before the Chernobyl accident) in their village.

As the son of a career military man, Alexey changed several schools. In this regard, he confidently asserted that “military children do not have childhood friends, because military children move around all the time.”

Navalny’s idol both in childhood and to this day - Arnold Schwarzenegger. Perhaps Alexey learned to fight from his hero, because he said that at school only high school students could defeat him.

After graduating from Alabinsk secondary school in 1993, Alexei Navalny entered the law faculty of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, from which he graduated in 1998. In 1999 he entered the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation (specialty “Securities and Exchange Business”) and graduated in 2001.

Work and business of Alexei Navalny

While still at university, Alexei Navalny began his business career. In 1997, an enterprising young man founded Nesna LLC (hairdressing services). True, Alexey soon sold the company. But in the same year, Navalny registered Allekt LLC. Navalny worked as deputy director for legal issues in this company, and at the same time got a job in the development company ST-Group. He worked on real estate issues, currency control and antitrust legislation (1998−1999). For some time he worked at Aeroflot Bank. While working in business structures, Alexey Navalny encountered both violations of the law and corruption.

Alexey Navalny has a share in the family business Kobyakovskaya Wicker Factory LLC (in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region). He has 25% of the authorized capital, the remaining shares are owned by his relatives.

Entrepreneurship flowed from the young Navalny. Together with friends from the Faculty of Law of RUDN University, Alexey opened the company “N. N. Securities". Alexey Navalny had a 35% stake in this company and worked as its chief accountant. "N. N. Securities was engaged in trading securities on the stock exchange. The young entrepreneur himself said that he became interested in playing on the stock exchange. Irrepressible passion led to the fact that Alexey Navalny lost (as he said) “the little money” that he had, and the company went bankrupt.

In 2001, the cheerful Alexey Anatolyevich co-founded Euro-Asian Transport Systems LLC, which made money from cargo transportation.

Politics and social activities of Alexei Navalny

Back in 2000, Alexey became a member of the Yabloko party and even its Federal Political Council. And from 2004 to 2007 he became the head of the regional branch of the Yabloko Republican Democratic Party. But in December 2007 he was expelled from the party with the wording “for causing political damage to the party, in particular, for nationalist activities.”

Alexey Navalny in the Yabloko party (Photo: navalny.com)

Since 2006, Alexey Navalny has been the founder of various projects and public organizations, such as “Political Debates”, “Union of Minority Shareholders”, “Committee for the Protection of Muscovites”, “Police with the People”. Together with Maria Gaidar And Natalia Morar organized the Youth Movement “YES!” He increased his recognition by being the host of the Urban Chronicles program on the Ekho Moskvy radio station, and was also the editor-in-chief of the Fight Club program on TVC.

In 2009, Alexey Navalny, as a freelance adviser to the governor of the Kirov region, worked with the former leader of the Union of Right Forces Nikita Belykh, subsequently arrested on charges of corruption (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale).

Alexey Anatolyevich became interested in the Yale University program (“Yale World Fellows”). Every year, about fifteen gifted people from different countries are selected through this program. Garry Kasparov, Evgenia Albats, Sergey Guriev And Oleg Tsyvinsky, considering Navalny Alexey very promising for studying global problems of international understanding, gave him a recommendation. In 2010, Alexey completed the required six-month course. According to the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, “Mr. Navalny is a political “product” manufactured in US laboratories for the next pogrom of Russia.”

In 2013, Alexey Anatolyevich Navalny competed with Sergei Sobyanin in the elections for the mayor of Moscow. Took second place. At the same time, Alexey headed the Central Council of the political association “Party of Progress”.

Moscow mayoral candidate A. Navalny met with voters (Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS)

And finally, Alexei Navalny took the presidential path in 2016. On the Dozhd TV channel, he announced his participation in the Russian presidential elections, which will take place in 2018.

On December 25, 2017, the Central Election Commission refused to register Alexei Navalny due to his lack of passive voting rights due to an outstanding conviction for a serious crime. In turn, the oppositionist threatened the authorities with a voter strike and an appeal to the Constitutional Court, SP previously wrote. However, the 2018 elections took place without Navalny.

Alexey Navalny and the fight against corruption in Russia

Alexei Navalny's political activities rely on the fight against corruption in the country. Since 2008, he has been immersed in investigations of what he believes are corruption cases. He exposed violations in various funds, published articles about the investigation of corruption cases in Russia. In his blog, which Navalny maintains on LiveJournal, he discusses and gives advice on how to effectively fight corruption. According to media reports, in 2008, Alexey Anatolyevich acquired shares in almost all large Russian companies, then, as a minority shareholder, he accused the top management of the companies of numerous abuses; by filing lawsuits, Navalny tried to increase the transparency of the companies’ activities.

In 2010, Alexey Navalny created the non-profit public project RosPil, with the help of which he fought elements of corruption in public procurement. As part of the project, site users reported corruption, experts conducted assessments, and project lawyers wrote complaints to regulatory authorities, demanding the abolition of corrupt purchases.

Realizing that the fight against corruption works well in politics and responds to public demand, Alexei Navalny continued his investigations. In 2011, Navalny created the non-profit organization Anti-Corruption Foundation, which united previous anti-corruption projects. The Anti-Corruption Foundation includes coordinators of Navalny’s projects “RosPil”, “RosYama”, “RosVybory”, “Good Machine of Truth”, “RosZhKH”.

An important part of the activities of the Anti-Corruption Foundation has become documentaries dedicated to investigations of the Navalny Foundation. In December 2015, Alexey Navalny posted the film “Chaika” on the Internet, in which the Anti-Corruption Foundation shared its investigation into the activities of the sons and colleagues of Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. The film aroused great interest and received a special prize at the Artdocfest festival that same month. Yuri Chaika called Navalny's investigation ordered and deceitful. The Swiss Prosecutor General's Office, responding to a complaint from the Anti-Corruption Foundation, did not find any evidence of corruption in relation to Artem Chaika.

Navalny’s second high-profile film was “ He's not Dimon for you", released in March 2017. The film by the Anti-Corruption Foundation says that the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev allegedly owns multi-billion dollar real estate, heads a multi-level corruption scheme using charitable foundations and various organizations. Navalny's film about Medvedev also attracted great interest, gaining more than 2.5 million views on YouTube in the first 24 hours alone. Prime Minister's Press Secretary Natalya Timakova called Navalny’s film a propaganda attack, and Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the FBK investigation, noted that “these are not the first examples of the creativity of this famous convicted citizen.”

At the same time, a group of deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposed that the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption conduct a check of the information from the Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Alexey Navalny in the FBK office (Photo: fbk.info)

It was under the pretext of a lack of reaction to the investigation of Navalny’s foundation that Alexey Anatolyevich managed to bring many people to rallies at the end of March in a number of Russian cities. On March 26 in Moscow, according to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 7,000-8,000 people gathered on Tverskaya Street. According to media reports, about 1,000 activists were detained, including Navalny himself, who was then fined 20 thousand rubles for organizing an unauthorized mass rally in the center of the capital and arrested for 15 days under Art. 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO RF) for disobedience to a lawful order of a police officer.

Criminal cases of Alexei Navalny

Navalny acted as a witness in a number of criminal, administrative, civil and arbitration cases. But he is also an accused and defendant, for example, in the famous “Kirovles Case”. Alexey Navalny was accused of being an adviser to the governor of the Kirov region, in May-September 2009, in collusion with the director of the Vyatka Forestry Company, Pyotr Ofitserov, and the general director of Kirovles, Vyacheslav Opalev, who organized the theft of more than 10 thousand cubic meters of timber worth over 16 million rubles . Alexey Anatolyevich was sentenced in 2013 by the Kirov Regional Court to 5 years, later the term was replaced by a suspended sentence. In 2016, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation overturned this verdict “taking into account the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, which found a violation of the right to a fair trial in the investigation documents.” On February 8, 2017, the Leninsky District Court of Kirov re-sentenced Navalny and his partner Pyotr Ofitserov to 5 and 4 years of suspended imprisonment.

On June 15, the Kirovles company filed a claim with the court to recover 16 million rubles in compensation from Alexei Navalny, Pyotr Ofitserov and Vyacheslav Opalev in the case of theft of funds. In July, the Nikulinsky Court of Moscow made a decision according to which they must pay the Kirovles company 2.1 million rubles. Thus, the court satisfied Kirovles’ claim against Navalny only partially.

Alexey and Oleg Navalny, accused of embezzlement from the Yves Rocher cosmetics company (Photo: Artem Korotaev/TASS)

In the Yves Rocher case, Alexei Navalny was accused along with his brother Oleg. The company accused the Navalnys of fraud and money laundering. On December 30, 2014, Navalny was again sentenced to 3.5 years probation.

In May 2017, news that the famous businessman Alisher Usmanov filed a lawsuit against FBK for the protection of honor and dignity caused a great stir. In addition, in a special video message, Usmanov responded to accusations against him from Alexei Navalny; in the first 24 hours alone, the video was watched by over 6 million people on all social networks. In his second address, Usmanov again criticized his opponent, comparing Navalny to Bulgakov’s hero Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov.

On May 15, 2018, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow sentenced Navalny to 30 days of arrest for disobeying the police at a protest rally that took place on May 5 in Moscow and was not coordinated with the authorities.

In June 2018, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow extended the probationary period of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the Kirovles case for another year, obliging him to report to the Federal Penitentiary Service four times a month.

"SP" reported that on the morning of October 14, Navalny was released after 50 days of arrest.

On October 15, Alexey Navalny announced that he had become a defendant in a criminal case initiated under Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: “Slander combined with accusing a person of committing a serious or especially serious crime.”

According to him, the plaintiff in this case is an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Pavel Karpov, from whom the Anti-Corruption Foundation, headed by Navalny, discovered “elite real estate, luxury cars, etc., and in quantities that are not even accessible to an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the highest salary."

"Duel" with Zolotov

After Alexei Navalny published an investigation on his website entitled “Rosgvardia Potatoes,” which alleged that the Russian Guard was purchasing food at inflated prices, the head of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, recorded a video message in response to Navalny’s accusations. The head of the Russian Guard challenged the politician to a duel and promised to turn him into a chop in just a few minutes. General Zolotov also called Navalny “an opposition pug, an American test tube product, a clone and a puppet.” According to Zolotov, the politician has been given the task of throwing mud at everyone in order to destabilize the situation in the country.

On October 18, Free Press reported that Alexei Navalny responded to the challenge of the head of the Russian Guard, Zolotov, to a duel, reserving the right to choose the weapon and place of the fight.

“I accept your challenge, and, as expected, I choose a place and a weapon. Our duel will take place in the form of debates live on Channel One or any other federal channel,” he said on his YouTube channel.

Viktor Zolotov, in turn, recalled that he invited Navalny not to a debate, but to a competition of a different kind, but promised to answer the oppositionist, although he does not yet know in what format

Political views of Alexei Navalny

Alexey Navalny positions himself as a national democrat. At the same time, he denies the label of nationalist that has been attached to him. Although Alexey Anatolyevich previously noted that nationalism “should become the core of the political system of Russia,” he was a participant in the nationalist “Russian March” marches, and spoke out against migrants who go to Russia with their “very unique values.”

In his election program, Navalny Alexey continues to focus on government corruption and the fight against bureaucracy. The first point of his program is the introduction of a large one-time tax for oligarchs, which will compensate for the injustice of privatization. He also proposes complete exemption from taxes, regulation and reporting for individual entrepreneurs, radical de-bureaucratization of housing construction, which will reduce housing prices, and other things that tempt the voter.

Alexey Navalny with his wife and children (Photo: navalny.com)

Family of Alexei Navalny

Alexey Navalny is married to Yulia Borisovna Navalnaya(Abrosimova). Has a daughter, Daria (2001), and a son, Zakhar (2008).

Brother - Oleg Anatolyevich Navalny. He worked as Deputy Director of the Automated Sorting Centers company until May 2013, a branch of Russian Post, First Deputy Director of the EMS Russian Post Express Delivery campaign.

As befits a politician, Alexei Navalny is very active on social networks, posting his photos on Instagram, retweeting on Twitter, and posting on Facebook. Navalny does not miss the chance to promote himself, so in August he responded to a request from one of the portals, which announced an award among users for a video with a politician. As a result, Alexei Navalny and his wife filmed a video of a walk around the city and sent it to journalists. According to the politician, he was paid only 10 thousand rubles, as reported in the news. Alexey Navalny said that he was waiting for the remaining amount, otherwise he would go to court. And the politician promised to transfer the money received to his election fund.

Navalny doesn’t always succeed in PR, so a photo posted on Instagram at the end of August in which Alexey enthusiastically eats noodles with the caption “I love doshik” caused a wave of parodies and photoshopped images on the Internet. The phrase “Navalny eats doshirak” has become a meme, the politician’s photo is attached to a variety of historical characters, however, it is not clear whether such a stir is beneficial to the oppositionist himself.

The punishment for civil passivity is the power of villains.(Plato)

Alexey Anatolyevich Navalny- who is he? A truth-teller who longs for justice for his people, or another character who believes that it’s his turn to buy yachts and planes for himself at the expense of the state budget? A fighter for the well-being and sovereignty of his country or a crazy nationalist? Is he really ready to prove his statements with action, or is this another Friend who came for the sake of hype, only from the political side?

So let's start with Who is Navalny? Opposition politician, founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and extremely active in opposing the current government. Besides, is a nominated candidate for the post of President of the Russian Federation in 2018.

Very little is known about Alexey’s childhood. Navalny was born and raised in the village Butyn, Odintsovo district, Moscow region. His father is from Ukraine, from the village of Zalesye, which was located in the Chernobyl zone, where little Alyosha spent every summer with his grandmother, herding cows and digging in the beds, but after the nuclear power plant accident, the village was erased from all maps. The mother also comes from a village located near Zelenograd in the Moscow region.

As Navalny himself once stated: “I consider myself more Ukrainian, due to my roots and genetics”.

As for the rest of the family, today Navalny has wife and two children.

After school, Alexey enters the Law Faculty of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, and a year after graduation, he enters the Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation, majoring in “Securities and Exchange Business.”

Studying at higher educational institutions, Navalny At the same time, he tries to do business, but does not find much success in this area. He was the founder of several companies, but all of them did not generate income and went bankrupt.

Alexey felt his first taste of success when he got involved in politics. Since the early 2000s, he has worked as deputy director of the company "Allect" and things were going mediocre, but in 2007 the elections to the Duma happened, and the company cut down on advertising the right-wing party 99,000,000 rubles, from which Navalny received a commission of almost 5,000,000 rubles.

Advertising right-wing parties was not Alexei’s only connection with politics. In 2000 he joined the party "Apple" and rose to the position of head of the Moscow branch of the party, at the same time broadcasting on the radio "Echo of Moscow", but was soon expelled from the ranks of the party with the wording: "For nationalistic activities". Navalny said that he was removed for criticizing the leadership, and he considers himself one of the normal nationalists.

This is a rather contradictory statement, because for many of us, nationalists are bald thugs in combat boots under the banners of a black-yellow-white tricolor. It’s unlikely that Alexey resembles any of them.

If we consider Navalny’s nationalist ideas and proposals, they do not seem so absurd. And later Navalny creates moderate nationalist party "People". One of the most interesting ideas of which is introduction of a visa regime with the countries of the Caucasus.

Despite the scandal, Navalny does not lose touch with the party "Apple" and on their recommendation goes to study at Yale University.

Upon return passes exams and receives a lawyer's certificate, creates his own law office, which haven't won a single case, and less than a year later, was liquidated.

But the most important thing that Alexey began to do after returning from Yale University was to conduct corruption investigations, intensely criticize the current government in the country and create anti-corruption projects like RosPila And RosYama.

He starts his own blog, where he publishes an article like During the construction of an oil pipeline in China, 4 billion US dollars were stolen. The blog soars to the first lines of the top Yandex blogs and brings Navalny his first unimaginable popularity on the Internet. In 2011 the blog ranks first place among blogs of politicians and public figures.

After his participation in protest movements begins, trials for “ Kirovles" and "Yves Rocher", as a result of which he almost went to prison, but the cases were obviously fabricated against him.

Participation in elections for the post of mayor of Moscow, where Navalny takes second place, losing to Sobyanin. By the way, even then Alexey received the approval of many media personalities and at a concert in support of his election campaign performed absolutely free several show business stars. Such as Diana Arbenina(gr. Night Snipers) and Vladi(gr. Caste). By the way Caste Not long ago she released her new album, where she raises acute social topics in her tracks.

And the most important thing - Navalny epically breaks into Russian YouTube with the film “He’s not your Dimon”. He finds a platform that is not limited by censorship and allows him to convey the truth to the maximum number of viewers. Alexei becomes one of the top bloggers in the country, without doing challenges with condoms on your head and without looking at expensive cars.

Although… He became an excellent observer of expensive yachts, cottages and estates of Usmanov and Medvedev. However, he became an observer of the entire life of the Russian people, who, outside the Moscow Ring Road, plunged into poverty and continuous problems. He exposed the true face of people's poverty in the vastness of the richest country. He found the root of the problems and was never unfounded, confirming every word with weighty facts and documents identified during his own investigations, on which years were spent.

Each of us is free to judge for ourselves how honest this character is with the audience when he promises: "Give me power and it will work for you". Our resource is in no way a supporter of imposing our conclusions on the reader, but looking at the reaction of the authorities, which makes custom videos in which they highlight unsubstantiated facts about Navalny or buy "Variety prostitutes" And "crazy" rappers like Ptakhi who yesterday were drug addicts, and today are on the side of the government.

They invite narrow-minded bloggers to the Duma so that they can dissuade young people from going to rallies.

It is not difficult to take the right side, even if you are extremely critical of the statements of both opponents (Navalny vs. the current government), but we live in an era when YouTube viewers need “proofs.”

And Navalny provides them to us, unlike the newly minted richest billionaire blogger Alisher Usmanova, which is not only cannot provide evidence for his statements and hardly fits even in wide-format monitors of spectators, and also behaves familiarly and in some places a bit redneck in relation to both Navalny and the viewer.

We do not in any way call on our readers to radical actions and do not say that we are full supporters of the opposition ideas of Alexei Navalny. All we want to convey is that corruption in Russia has become an obvious fact. And it flourishes to the very top. Servants of the people simply have their own people, and we have resigned ourselves to the fate of the slaves of our servants.

And if we summarize the full analysis of Navalny’s activities, then for now he is a clear people’s leader, but as practice shows, the winner is not the one who collects views and subscribers, receiving popular recognition, standing with the people in the squares, but the one who has power over the ballot boxes at polling stations. In general, referring to the words of the greats:

Good luck, friends and good mood to you!