On August 20 last year, Alexei Navalny was poisoned. A group of FSB officers acting as assassins, who had been following him for three years, treated his belongings with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok. Navalny was supposed to die on the plane on the way to Moscow.
But he survived. The fact that he was poisoned with a chemical weapon was confirmed by independent laboratories in three countries and confirmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The circumstances were investigated, including by Navalny himself, and even confirmed by the poisoners.
On January 17, after receiving medical treatment, Alexei Navalny returned to Moscow. A man who had survived by a miracle was detained right at the airport, tried in a police station, sent to a pre-trial detention center, and then to prison. On January 23 and 31, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in 180 Russian cities. They came out peacefully, unarmed, with a single demand: free Alexei Navalny. 12,000 people were detained—fines, days in detention centers, beatings, house arrest. Putin launched an unprecedented campaign against everyone who disagrees with him and dares to say so out loud.
How will we respond to Putin?
Today we are launching our major political campaign. We demand the release of Alexei Navalny. We can see that all of Putin’s hatred has become focused on one person. Because of Navalny, Russia is prepared to leave the Council of Europe, tear up treaties, and withdraw from international organizations. It is prepared to disgrace itself, lie at the state level, and sever diplomatic relations—just to keep one innocent man, Putin’s personal enemy, from going free. Navalny is the biggest problem facing Putin’s regime. And if we want to fight this regime truly effectively, then right now there must be only one demand: freedom for Alexei Navalny.
This will be our main website for the next few months.
One of the goals of the campaign for Alexei Navalny’s release will be a major rally this spring. A fundamentally different kind of rally. No one has ever done anything like this in Russia’s history. A rally that everyone will know about. A rally that Putin will not be able to disperse.
We can see that even according to Levada Center polls, 22% of Russians support the protests—and that is tens of millions of people. But when a rally is spontaneous, not everyone hears about it in time, not everyone can plan their schedule, and many are afraid to come out.
So we will do things differently. We are not setting a specific date right now. The first step of our campaign is to tell the entire country about the rally. Together, we must focus on outreach and preparation, and we will set the date when the number of participants reaches at least half a million people. 500,000 Russian citizens who join our campaign will openly declare their readiness to come out to the rally and tell others about it.
How will we know when 500,000 people are ready to take to the streets?
On the website https://free.navalny.com/, we have launched a map. If you believe that Alexei Navalny must be released immediately, and you are ready to demand it in the streets, place a dot in the city where you live.
Most importantly: do not be afraid to talk about this. Share the website. Tell people what is happening. Together, we must make sure that as many people as possible come out to the rally.
We know that the only obstacle to this is fear. Putin knows very well how to traffic in fear. His riot police with batons, his police vans, and his judges—all of it is meant to intimidate the citizens of our country. Don’t come out, or you’ll be beaten, fined, arrested—this is his main argument, his main tool for holding on to power. But we also know very well: if 1,000 people come out, they arrest them all; if 10,000 come out, they disperse them; but if 100,000 come out, the OMON riot police behave meekly.
A rally attended by 500,000 people will be the largest in modern Russian history. The map will fill up with dots, and everyone who adds theirs will know that they are not alone. That like-minded people live right next to them—in the same courtyard, on the same street. And when there are enough of us, we will choose a convenient date and march peacefully through the streets of cities across Russia.
Do you know who our main enemy is? No, not Putin. Putin cannot stop the Beautiful Russia of the Future, no matter how much he wants to. Our main enemy is indifference, apathy, and political disengagement. No one will hand us freedom as a gift; it cannot be bought in a store. We have to fight for it—not tomorrow, not next week, not after vacation, but now.
In the history of almost every country and nation, there are people who once set it free and changed it. We read about these brave people in textbooks and admire their courage. But we should not wait for someone to appear, come to us, and help us. We must become those people ourselves.
Do not be afraid. Sign up. Join our campaign. Put your dot on the map and tell everyone that we are preparing a major rally. Come to it.
Russia will be happy.