Text version
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60 minutes rewind
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a lot's been said about russia meddling
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in our 2016 presidential campaign
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but the russians are already buzzing
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about their presidential election next
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march
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because unexpectedly vladimir putin has
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a genuine challenger
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a handsome 41 year old lawyer alexei
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navalny
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who has chosen one of the most dangerous
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occupations
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in the world running against the man who
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controls the kremlin
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the election process in russia is
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tightly managed by the government
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but navalny has been drawing big crowds
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to his protests and rallies
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all over the country where he laces into
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putin
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with no holes barred
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putin is a thief and the head of the
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entire corrupt system
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this is one brave man not only because
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he has taken on the all-powerful
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vladimir putin head on
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but because he's been holding rallies
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many of them
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without official permits which has had
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its consequences
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one arrest after another
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during my campaign i spent every fifth
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day
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in the jail so now i'm kind of you know
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used to it nothing new for me it's it's
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became a routine of my life
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you got out of prison just a couple of
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days ago right
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you held a rally right away and you're
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goading them you're begging them to
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arrest you again
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these are people who are trying to steal
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my country
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and i'm strongly disagree with it i'm
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not going to be
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you know a kind of speechless person
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right now
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i'm not going to keep silent you're not
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allowed to run i'm not allowed to run
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and they put enormous pressure of our on
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our headquarters
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and on our volunteers my uh chief of
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campaign
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get out of jail just yesterday so
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all these facts show us that he's really
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afraid
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not of me but these
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people who are standing behind me we
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have now 170
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000 volunteers mr putin remains highly
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popular
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it's all but a foregone conclusion that
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he'll be re-elected
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and yet the kremlin is doing everything
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it can to make it difficult for navalny
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to gain traction
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for instance the government says he
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can't be on the ballot
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because he was found guilty of
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embezzlement and what navalny insists
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was a trumped-up charge
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and he's barred from national television
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but he's managed to get around that by
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reaching an
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ever widening audience on social media
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channels
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and youtube where he has millions of
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followers
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and says he's raised almost four million
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dollars from
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ordinary russians what do you think the
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biggest
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issue is for most people here in russia
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poverty and inequality huge
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in russia even compared to the united
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states the european country
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no opportunities at all no future for
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the people
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putin is stealing their future and mr
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putin
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puts his relatives his closest friends
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his colleagues from the kgb at the
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chiefs of
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this company and that's why they're
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controlling the whole economy
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navalny began his public life 10 years
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ago
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in a shrewd way he bought small shares
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of state-owned companies
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as a shareholder he was able to get his
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hands on internal financial documents
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investigated evidence of misconduct and
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posted it all
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on a blog did these documents that you
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got
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prove corruption absolutely i work as a
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whistleblower and i'm not afraid to
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announce the names he says he found that
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the kremlin's inner circle was
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accumulating vast amounts of wealth
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and published pictures of multiple homes
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and yachts
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he moved on to airing documentaries on
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youtube
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with video of the official's lavish
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lifestyle
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how did you get the footage now we have
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our
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air force we're just using drones
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uh you send drones out yes we do a lot
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of
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work with drones because from for us
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it's a
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best way to show this way of life
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when you publish this footage of the
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yachts of these palaces of this real
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estate
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and you you can show documents
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look this guy have a relatively modest
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salary but look at this house
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his most watched documentary with over
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25 million views
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focused on prime minister dmitry
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medvedev and his estates
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navalny says all five of them
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the video inflamed so much outrage that
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in march
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tens of thousands of russians took to
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the streets
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when navalny called for a second round
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of protests three months later
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he was arrested before he even left his
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apartment building
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but his supporters came out in droves
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all across the country
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and like navalny close to 1700 were
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arrested
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these were the first protests of this
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magnitude in russia
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in six years back then in 2011
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roughly 60 000 went to the streets in a
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burst of
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anti-putin descent that's when navalny
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debuted in moscow
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as an opposition leader as we were
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watching in the united states
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i think there was the impression that
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public opinion
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was going to force change here it looked
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that way
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on television but that is not what
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happened
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mr putin realized that
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his it's not affordable for his system
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to give people more democracy that's why
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in the
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uh 2012 he completely changed his
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strategy
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and start to arrest people start to
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fabricate criminal cases
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look and at the uh start of the
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2011 i was a respectful lawyer
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at the end of the 2012 i was several
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times
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convicted but now he's seen as the last
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man standing
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since most of the other opposition
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leaders either fled the country
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or were found dead under mysterious
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circumstances
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why are you still alive this is a
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favorite
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question of my wife i don't know maybe
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they
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missed the good timing for it
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when i was less famous do you feel that
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your visibility
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with so many people knowing who you are
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um
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that that's protecting you well actually
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i'm trying not to
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uh thinking about it uh
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a lot because if you start to think uh
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what kind of risks
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i have you cannot do anything
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navalny's platform includes more
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spending on education and health
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restoring a free press and taxing the
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oligarchs
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in the west he's assumed to be a russian
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liberal
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but there was a time when he marched
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with nationalists
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some of them fascists something he's
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tried to downplay lately
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you have attended nationalist what we
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would call right-wing
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rallies i believe in support of
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ethnic purity russian ethnic purity
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have you supported that of course not i
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was part of these rallies because i
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support the freedom of
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rallies because i support freedom for
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meetings
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they're supporters of yours a lot of
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them supports me
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and they recognize me as a leader when
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he was growing up
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he came from a committed communist
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family in a small town
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south of moscow what was your childhood
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like
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i'm 41 years old it means
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that actually i'm a guy from the soviet
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union
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i was a young pioneer i had my
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red tie my father was military
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and i was very proud that my father is
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guarding
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mother russia from evil americans with
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their bombs and missiles
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actually my biggest memory that i'm as a
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child
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standing in line standing in line maybe
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sometimes for hours to just buy milk
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the story will continue after this
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he was close to his brother oleg seven
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years younger
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so it was painful for him when three
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years ago
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the government to get him to stop his
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activism he believes
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convicted him and oleg of embezzlement
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a ruling the european court of human
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rights called arbitrary and
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unfair to make matters worse
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he got a suspended sentence but oleg
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is still behind bars he's still in
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prison and he's spent
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two years in the solitary confinement
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which is
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actually in russian condition is
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torturing and you think he's in jail
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to get you to get you to stop yes
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absolutely
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but he hasn't stopped even though he's
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been physically attacked
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while campaigning in siberia he was
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splashed in the face with
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green dye it was painful but i could
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hurt it but he handled it with humor
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saying he was shrek
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his followers dyed their own faces green
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and posted photos to instagram and
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twitter in solidarity
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then he was splashed again
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second time was much more painful there
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was acid
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as i understand it my doctor in the
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hospital said well
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alexis you should be prepared that you
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will be
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blind for one eye and so i even start to
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think about
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kind of you know i would be such kind of
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pirate
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with the patch with the patch
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the kremlin did allow him to travel to
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spain for specialized surgery
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but immediately after the treatment he
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returned to moscow
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and went right out campaigning again
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lately he's been concentrating on rural
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areas
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holding rallies far from the big cities
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in places like
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siberia and the euros i'm traveling
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every weekend to spend
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friday saturday and sunday in the region
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to have this rallies
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on our last day there we went with him
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to the mid-sized industrial city of
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ivanova
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four hours outside moscow starting with
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a train ride
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mr putin never ever mentions your name
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may criticize you but never your name
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what do you make of that
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i have no idea why they doing maybe it's
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the kind of something
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superstitious for them like you know you
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you cannot
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name the animal because if you name it
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in the night it will come and eat you
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or something like this and they have a
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lot of nicknames and
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euphemisms for me like this gentleman
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this guy
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this convict and this is this kind of
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this convict
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but they are thinking about me
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and believe me they are afraid of me
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afraid of us so it's
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that is much more important for us than
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mentioning my name
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it was snowing and dark out when we got
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to a wooded lot on the edge of town
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where a big crowd of mostly young
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russians was waiting
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no one thinks he has much of a chance of
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beating putin in the election
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but still putin fears him navalny says
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because of his ability to draw crowds at
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rallies
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and into the streets he perseveres
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knowing what he's doing is dangerous
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his supporters have been roughed up by
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police and pro-kremlin
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activists who navalny calls thugs
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is it in your mind worth your life
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because there is a big target on you no
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question
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i'm trying to not to think about it
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because
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look i think i'm ready to sacrifice
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everything
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for my job for the people who
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surrounding me i'm not
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let them down and i'm trying to not to
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reflex about it all the time