Leader of the opposition freed
NAVALNY: RELEASED AFTER SERVING 20-DAY SENTENCE
Daughter of Putin’s mentor joins fight for Russian presidency.
Moscow
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny walked free yesterday after a 20-day jail term for organising protests against President Vladimir Putin. Navalny, who has said he will stand for president in 2018, was released in a secret location to evade media attention.
During Navalny’s time behind bars, the Kremlin race he hopes to contest has heated up with television star Ksenia Sobchak throwing her hat into the ring.
Earlier yesterday, supporters of Navalny hung a banner from a bridge close to the Kremlin reading: “It’s time to get rid of Putin and time to elect Navalny.”
The charismatic 41-year-old lawyer informally launched a presidential bid in December last year and has since opened campaign offices and held rallies countrywide.
Earlier this year he served sentences of 15 days and 25 days for organising unauthorised anti-Putin protests.
During his latest jail term, his supporters held rallies on Putin's birthday on October 7, with more than 270 detained nationwide.
He has faced a constant stream of official bans on public meetings, as well as violent attacks on him and his supporters and vandalism of his offices.
During Navalny’s latest period in isolation, another high-profile figure has joined the presidential race.
Sobchak, a socialite and television star and the daughter of Putin’s late mentor, launched her bid to stand on Wednesday.
The presidential race has yet to officially begin and Putin has not yet declared his participation in the March 2018 election. However, he is widely expected to seek and win a six-year term that would extend his rule till 2024.
Sobchak has vowed to back Navalny’s bid to be included in the race – as authorities say his suspended sentence for fraud makes him ineligible to stand until 2028.
However, many liberals see her as a Kremlin-backed spoiler candidate brought in to give the race a veneer of opposition.
Putin worked closely with her late father Anatoly Sobchak when he was a liberal St Petersburg mayor.
Navalny earlier condemned rumours of Sobchak’s possible candidacy, saying this was a “rather disgusting Kremlin game” and calling her a “liberal laughing stock”.
Sobchak, 35, calls herself “the candidate against all”. –
This is a rather disgusting Kremlin game.