Алексей Навальный

A few words on the Oscar from the guy who's always the last to find out.

As usual, the cell radio turned on at 5:00 a.m. At 6:00, they had the first news block of the day: they spoke in detail about all the winners of the Academy Awards, except for Best Documentary. I thought that was a good sign. 

Closer to lunch, they took me to a court hearing. I was on video link, and the lawyer showed a piece of paper into my camera. 

"I don't see anything," I said. After poking my sheet in the camera for a while longer, the lawyer couldn't stand it and said, "Your movie won an Oscar."
I had a very strange feeling at that moment. 

It was as if those words didn't even belong in this world, but, on the other hand, everything here is so weird and crazy that it feels like that's the only world they belong in. 

I am, of course, terribly glad, but while rejoicing, I try not to forget that it wasn't me who won the Oscar after all 🙂 These were quite exciting and sometimes dramatic events, but it was a genius team that was able to show them in a way that was Oscar-worthy: Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris and the many others who worked on the film. Guys, I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart.

Christo (hugs to you, man, you are the true star of this film) and Maria Pevchikh, without you, even a rough concept of all this would not exist. 

Yulia, thank you for participating, supporting and, on a couple of occasions, keeping me from killing the crew. 

Friends and colleagues at the ACF, as usual, you did all the work, and I merely provided my face to be put on the cover. 

Finally, let me reiterate: this is not my movie, I didn't win the Oscar, and I'm not in a position to dedicate this award to anyone. However, I dedicate my entire contribution to this film to honest and courageous people across the world who day after day find the strength to confront the monster of dictatorship and its constant companion, war.

On the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, I have summarized the political platform of mine and, hopefully, of many other decent people.
15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country.

What was all this about and what are we dealing with now?

1. President Putin has unleashed an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine under ridiculous pretexts. He is desperately trying to make this a "people's war," seeking to turn all Russian citizens into his accomplices, but his attempts are failing. There are almost no volunteers for this war, so Putin's army has to rely on convicts and forcibly mobilized people.

2. The real reasons for this war are the political and economic problems within Russia, Putin's desire to hold on to power at any cost, and his obsession with his own historical legacy. He wants to go down in history as "the conqueror tsar" and "the collector of lands."

3. Tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians have been murdered, and pain and suffering has befallen millions more. War crimes have been committed. Ukrainian cities and infrastructure have been destroyed.
 
4. Russia is suffering a military defeat. It was the realization of this fact that changed the rhetoric of the authorities from claims that "Kyiv will fall in three days" to hysterical threats of using nuclear weapons should Russia lose. The lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were needlessly ruined. The ultimate military defeat may be delayed at the cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands more mobilized soldiers, but it is generally inevitable. The combination of aggressive warfare, corruption, inept generals, weak economy, and heroism and high motivation of the defending forces can only result in defeat. 
The Kremlin's deceitful and hypocritical calls for negotiations and ceasefire are nothing more than a realistic assessment of the prospects of further military action.

What is to be done?

5. What are Ukraine's borders? They are similar to Russia's - they’re internationally recognized and defined in 1991. Russia also recognized these borders back then, and it must recognize them today as well. There is nothing to discuss here. Almost all borders in the world are more or less accidental and cause someone's discontent. But in the twenty-first century, we cannot start wars just to redraw them. Otherwise, the world will sink into chaos.

6. Russia must leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop the way its people want. Stop the aggression, end the war and withdraw all of its troops from Ukraine. Continuation of this war is just a tantrum caused by powerlessness, and putting an end to it would be a strong move.

7. Together with Ukraine, the U.S., the EU and the UK, we must look for acceptable ways to compensate for the damage done to Ukraine. One way to achieve this would be lifting the restrictions imposed on our oil and gas, but directing part of the income Russia receives from hydrocarbon exports towards reparations. Of course, this should only be done after the change of power in Russia and the end of the war.

8. War crimes committed during this war must be investigated in cooperation with international institutions.

Why would stopping Putin's aggression benefit Russia?

9. Are all Russians inherently imperialistic?
This is nonsense. For example, Belarus is also involved in the war against Ukraine. Does this mean that the Belarusians also have an imperial mindset? No, they merely also have a dictator in power.There will always be people with imperial views in Russia, just like in any other country with historical preconditions for this, but they are far from being the majority. There is no reason to weep and wail about it. Such people should be defeated in elections, just as both right-wing and left-wing radicals get defeated in developed countries. 

10. Does Russia need new territories?
Russia is a vast country with a shrinking population and dying out rural areas. Imperialism and the urge to seize territory is the most harmful and destructive path. Once again, the Russian government is destroying our future with its own hands just in order to make our country look bigger on the map. But Russia is big enough as it is. Our objective should be preserving our people and developing what we have in abundance.

11. For Russia, the legacy of this war will be a whole tangle of complex and, at first glance, almost unsolvable problems. It is important to establish for ourselves that we really want to solve them, and then begin to do so honestly and openly. The key to success lies in understanding that ending the war as soon as possible will not only be good for Russia and its people, but also very profitable: this is the only way to start progressing toward removal of sanctions, return of those who left, restoration of business confidence, and economic growth. 

12. Let me re-emphasize that after the war, we will have to reimburse Ukraine for all the damage caused by Putin's aggression. However, the restoration of normal economic relations with the civilized world and the return of economic growth will allow us to do so without interfering with the development of our country. 

We have hit rock bottom, and in order to resurface, we need to bounce back from it. This would be both ethically correct, rational, and profitable.

13. We need to dismantle the Putin regime and its dictatorship. Ideally, through conducting general free elections and convocating the Constitutional Assembly.

14. We need to establish a parliamentary republic based on the alternation of power through fair elections, independent courts, federalism, local self-governance, complete economic freedom and social justice.

15. Recognizing our history and traditions, we must be part of Europe and follow the European path of development. We have no other choice, nor do we need any.

I laugh at least thrice a day, even when I'm all alone in the cell. It's all because of the music. I started complaining about it. There's a radio in every cell. And from morning till night they play nightmarish radio stations, where Gazmanov is always on. So I started demanding that they turn on "Europa Plus" at least for a couple of hours a day.

But whenever I demand something, the guards naturally do the exact opposite. For example, when I asked them to increase the time for which I am given pen and paper (it used to be 1.5 hours a day), they made it 35 minutes. The same thing happened with the music. After my request they turned off all music radio stations and left only the news station "Radio of Russia". It's lies and drug advertisements 24/7.

But that's not all! What would an employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service do if he wanted to mess with someone through music? That's right, turn on classical music, for he believes it to be torture and punishment. So now, there's classical music playing in the cells during breakfast, lunch and dinner. So now, there's classical music playing in the cells during breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I'm not a connoisseur at all, but I can enjoy it. It's just that one of the pieces being played is as gloomy as it gets and sounds like a funeral march. Also, when they shove the food through the feeder in my cell door, they put a piece of bread on the mug, so that it doesn't touch the rest of the food. It reminds me of the way they put a piece of bread on a glass of vodka at a funeral feast. They also often serve some sort of rice porridge, which looks like a traditional Russian funeral dish, kutia.

So I am sitting at the table in my cell in my black prison uniform, eating kutia, with a mug covered with bread next to me, and funeral music playing. At this point, I imagine that there is a live stream of all this on Twitter or Instagram and you can see it all. I can't help it and start laughing. I'm the merriest person at a funeral 😉

The main torment of imprisonment is, of course, the inability to see the faces of your family, to talk to your loved ones. I haven’t had any visits for 8 months and yesterday I was told that I’d be transferred to a cell-type facility for the maximum possible term of 6 months.

No visits are allowed there. This means more than a year without a visit. Even maniacs and serial killers serving life sentences have the right to receive a visit, but I do not. Well, hardships make one tougher, although I don’t understand why this should apply to my children too.

But most importantly, when something like this happens to you, you realize how important it is to fight this unscrupulous regime, how important it is to do just about anything in order to throw the yoke of these scoundrels off Russia and dispel the illusion that they have planted in the heads of millions.

Let us try to remain strong and do all we can every day.

I’m reading a book by Anatoly Marchenko, a Soviet dissident who spent half his life in prison and died in 1986 after a hunger strike. He describes his time behind bars in the ’60s.

Every page strikes me not even by how similar the systems are, but by the fact that it is actually one and the same system.

For example, here’s a quote from a chapter about the SHIZO: 
“Terms there are limited — no more than 15 days. But this rule is easy for the administration to circumvent. They let you out in the evening, and then the next day you have to go back in for another 15 days. What for? There is always a reason: blocking the peephole while standing in the cell, picking up a cigarette butt while walking, rude replies to the warden. They will give you 15 more days for nothing. [...] Once in Karaganda they kept me in the SHIZO for 48 days and would only let me out only to read another resolution on “placement in the punishment cell”. Writer Yuri Daniel was given two consecutive punishments in Dubravlag for being “rude to a guard”.

Compare that to my four months in the SHIZO — the pattern is the same. It’s the same with everything. Hunger, food, cigarettes, visits, parcels and kiosks — that’s what a convict’s world revolves around. The only significant change is that now there is plumbing in the cells, and the “reduced food ration” — an official hunger torture — has been abolished. Well, and there’s now more corruption. 

Some may say: “They have also abolished the punishment of deprivation of parcels and visits.” But I mean, look at me. I’ve been in Melekhovo for seven months, and during that time I’ve had 1 (one) call, 1 (one) parcel, and 0 (zero) visits. 

Yes, the Soviet prison system had undergone some humanization after the death of Stalin, under whom there were actual death camps, but after that it has remained unchanged, having nothing to do with the re-education of criminals. Its only aim is to dehumanize the prisoner, bully him and serve the illegal instructions of the country’s political leadership. They’ll let the right people out, they’ll easily find a reason to increase anyone’s sentence, and they’ll kill anyone they’re asked to and report the cause of death as pneumonia.

So the Russian prison system is the same as the Soviet Gulag, except that there’s now a church in every prison. This system cannot be reformed in any way, and must be completely rebuilt in the Beautiful Russia of the Future.

Keeping my promise.

During the shooting of the “Navalny” film (which had no title at the time), Yulia and Odessa, the producer of the film, came up to me during a break. They were both wearing these silly space jackets, so I asked for a picture of us. We discussed the fact that the picture was really funny, but we weren’t allowed to post it on Instagram, because we were trying to keep the whole thing a secret. 

So I made a joke: “I’ll post it when your film is nominated for an Academy Award”.

On January 24th, the documentary film “Navalny” was nominated for an Academy Award.

I haven’t seen the film, as you know, but whereas before I could only write a letter to the film’s director Daniel Roher and all the crew members saying that they were super cool and terribly talented because I really think so, now it has become an acknowledged fact.

I think back to the day when I met this weird couple — the Canadian director, who had his camera wrapped in duct tape, and his redheaded producer, who knew Japanese — and I think about how great it was that I agreed to do this film quite unexpectedly for myself.

Their eyes were burning and I thought that it would be nice to work with people with burning eyes.

This film is a tremendous effort by a great team of wonderful people. I heartily congratulate them on receiving a high and much-deserved appreciation for their work.

I already quoted this great phrase in my last words, but Luna Lovegood’s words from a Harry Potter book matter so much to the world we live in that I’ll gladly quote it again: “It is very important not to feel lonely. If I were Voldemort, I would really want you to feel lonely.”

I learned about the campaign in my support and events in cities all over the world from my lawyers. I regard it, of course, as a campaign for the release of all political prisoners in Russia and Belarus, where my name stands as one of the symbols.

The Voldemorts of our world, Putin, Lukashenko, Khamenei and Maduro, want us, those who refuse to submit to their power, to feel alone, abandoned, miserable and forgotten before their machines of lies, corruption and dehumanization.

And this really is terribly important — when you find yourself in prison, you realize especially keenly that you must not feel lonely. Feeling lonely today means being broken tomorrow.

I salute, thank and hug everyone who gives me and others like me the opportunity to feel that I am not alone every second of my prison life, no matter how hard it is.

It has been exactly two years since I returned to Russia. I have spent these two years in prison. When you write a post like this, you have to ask yourself: How many more of such anniversary posts will you have to write? 
Life and the events around us prompt the answer: however many it may take. Our miserable, exhausted Motherland needs to be saved. It has been pillaged, wounded, dragged into an aggressive war, and turned into a prison run by the most unscrupulous and deceitful scoundrels. Any opposition to this gang - even if only symbolic in my current limited capacity - is important. 
I said it two years ago, and I will say it again: Russia is my country. I was born and raised here, my parents are here, and I made a family here - I found a loved one and had kids with her. I am a full-fledged citizen and I have the right to unite with like-minded people and be politically active. There are plenty of us, certainly more than corrupt judges, lying propagandists, and Kremlin crooks. 
I'm not going to surrender my country to them, and I believe that the darkness will eventually fade away. But as long as it persists, I will do all I can, try to do what is right, and urge everyone not to abandon hope.
Russia will be happy!

In my two years behind bars, my only truly original story is the one about the psycho. Everything else has been told and described numerous times.

If you open any book by a Soviet dissident, there will be endless stories of punishment cells, hunger strikes, violence, provocations, lack of medical care. In short, nothing new. But my story about the psycho is really new - at least I've never seen or heard anything like it. 

So, let me give you an idea of the place where I sit all the time. It is a narrow corridor with cells on either side. The metal doors offer little to no soundproofing, plus there are ventilation holes above the doors, so the two people sitting in the cells opposite can have a conversation without even raising their voices. This is the main reason why there has never been anyone in the cell opposite from mine, nor in my entire 8-cell section. I was the only one there, and I had never seen any other punished convicts the whole time (well, except for my cellmate, the tractor driver, of course).

And then about a month ago, they put a psycho in the cell across from mine. At first I thought he was faking it. Very active and cartoonish. If you tell a kid to act like a madman, that's about what he'll come up with. Screaming, growling, hitting, barking, arguing with himself in three different voices. But in the case of my psycho, 70% of the words are obscene. There are a lot of videos online of people who think that they've been possessed by demons. This is very similar - the growling wail (my favorite of his three personas) comes on periodically and doesn't turn off for hours. That's why I stopped to think he was a faker - no normal person can yell for 14 hours every day during the day and 3 hours at night for a month. And when I say "yell", I mean the kind of yelling that makes one's neck veins swell up. 

For the past month, I've been going nuts and starting every checkup by demanding to transfer this lunatic somewhere else. It's impossible to sleep at night or read during the day. They don't transfer him, and they deliberately emphasize: he is a convict just like you. 

And then I find out a wonderful detail: this nutcase was incarcerated (he got 24 years for killing someone) in another place, and a month ago they moved him here on purpose, and now they constantly keep him in a punishment cell, so that he, so to speak, keeps me entertained. 

I have to admit that this plan is working: I never get bored, not do I ever get a good night's sleep. Sickness is especially cool: during the day you suffer in a cell with a fever and dream of the night when they lower your bunk bed and give you a mattress, and at night you listen to the cheerful barking of your neighbor. As you know, sleep deprivation is one of the most effective tortures, but formally, I can't complain: he's an inmate like me, he was also put in a punishment cell, and it is up to the administration to decide who gets put in which cell. 

But as usual in such situations I am amazed at something else.
This was all planned, you know. Someone thought of this and implemented it at the regional or federal level - you can't just transfer a convict for no reason at all, there's a rule about serving your whole term in one colony. So there was an order from above: press him. And the generals and colonels at lower levels held a meeting: "So, how shall we press him?" And someone, wanting to distinguish himself, said: "We have a madman in this and that prison, he screams day and night. Let's take him to Navalny."
"Yes, yes. What a great idea, fellow officers. Comrade Colonel, proceed and report on the execution."
I won't be surprised if it turns out that they took a raving madman from a prison hospital, declared him sane, and now keep him in a cell across mine so that he can entertain me.

The moral of this story is simple: the Russian prison system, the Federal Penitentiary Service, is run by a real collection of not just scoundrels, but real sick perverts. Everything in their system always has a sick twist: the infamous mop rapes, sticking boilers up people's anuses, etc. It wouldn't occur to a bad but sane person to do such a thing. Everything you read about the horrors and fascist crimes of our prison system is all true. There's just one correction: the reality is even worse.

I did manage to earn my tenth term in the punishment cell in the last year after all. My prison goons actually bothered enough to convene their commission on the weekend of December 31 especially for me. 
"Convict Navalny, surveillance operator noticed that you washed your face at 5:24 in the morning, while according to the schedule you wake up at 5:00 and wash at 6:00. Given the severity of the offense (they really said so) you will be transferred to the punishment cell for a maximum term of 15 days." 
Thus my plans for a fancy New Year were ruined: I had saved a packet of potato chips and a can of saury for it. So I spent the New Year in the ShIZO with my old friends: a bum (who was sad) and a psycho (who was howling and shouting behind the door). 
New Year in the ShIZO is like any other day: getting up at 5 and going to bed at 21. So for the first time since I was six years old I just slept the whole New Year night. All in all I am pleased. People pay money to celebrate New Year in some unusual way, and I got that for free. 
I'm only a little worried about the depression of my neighbor, the bum. I should probably call him a tractor driver now, since I cleaned him up very well and he is a tractor driver by trade. He was released on January 3 and brought back to me on January 4. And whenever they let him out, they do not take him to the barracks like everyone else. Instead, they always declare him ill and put him in the medical ward, which was full of flu patients - there's an epidemic here. And exactly 24 hours later they threw him back into my cell. It seems like they use him as a bioweapon. No wonder he's sad. 
Stay healthy in the new year! 😉

Alexei Navalny is a beacon of hope for democracy in Russia and around the world and the face of the opposition against Putin.

I am in awe of Navalny’s courage. His efforts to champion a more democratic vision for Russia are selfless and shocking. And insanely brave.

Many are afraid to speak their own mind. That’s why it’s so important to think about Alexei Navalny these days, who is still a courageous man and stands for principles that offer good prospects for many Russian citizens.

There are real heroes in this world and they are not on movie screens. Navalny is a moral superhero. A hero of conscience and courage. He’s survived assassination attempts and sits in prison right now because of his fight for truth and democracy, not just for Russia but for all who are sick of corruption, greed, and the violent abuse of power. He has a wife and children, but, like Mandela and Havel, he refuses to capitulate to bullies. Solidarity with this man should be a global commitment.

He is a stalwart fighter for a Russia free of the Putin stain. When Russia eventually emerges from the petty authoritarianism misruling the country, Mr. Navalny’s fellow citizens must remember his sacrifice.

With the eyes of the world now trained on Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his brutal invasion of Ukraine, Navalny’s message of resistance is finding new weight inside and outside of Russia, even as he remains behind bars.

He understood if he wanted to be the moral conscience of the nation, he had to lead by example. And show people that they should not be afraid. And that he wasn’t going to be afraid.

Navalny has been exposing Kremlin corruption since 2008. His campaign to dislodge Russia’s ruthless dictator has inspired unprecedented street protests; at their height these involved tens of thousands of people marching through Moscow chanting, “Putin is a thief”.

Even though he has been unable to challenge the president at the ballot box, his voice retains its power for many Russians and he remains a threat to the Kremlin.

Navalny now sits in one of Russia’s worst prisons, his life in the hands of a dictator who all evidence says already tried to kill him once for exposing the grotesque corruption of his regime. Navalny saw no alternative to risking everything to make a difference in his country. Even the all-powerful Vladimir Putin recognizes the power of a single man without fear.

For recognizing corruption as the biggest political problem of our times, and for risking limb and life to fight it, Navalny deserves the Nobel Peace Prize—or, at the very least, the full and unconflicted support of decent people.

Mr. Navalny knew what awaited him, because he knows as well as the dissidents of the Soviet era knew that the one thing a corrupt and authoritarian regime cannot abide is the truth. “I am not afraid. I know that I am in the right.