RUSSIAN PROTESTS UNDERMINE PUTIN’S GRIP

Extensively known for his contempt for opposition, President Vladimir Putin once again has flexed his tight grip on the Russian people, who over the past couple weeks have been trying to pry open his hand in response.

After the near-fatal poisoning (a favorite Kremlin method of dissent-silencing) of prominent centrist and Progress Party leader Alexei Navalny in August 2020, Navalny’s subsequent recuperation was largely spent calling out the true loyalties of his unknown assailant, arguing that the person was under direct command from the Russian government to kill, or at least, to incapacitate him.

Navalny’s continuous heavy criticism of the ruling conservative administration, both prior to and following his poisoning, lends plenty of motivation for Putin’s cabinet to do so, a conclusion he is clearly confident enough in repeating loudly.

Sure enough, as though confirming Navalny’s narrative (or at least fearing the uneasy discourse it may further stir), the outspoken critic would be arrested in mid-January by Russian officials, and his aides soon after. He would quickly urge those sympathetic to his cause to make their displeasure toward Russian federal misconduct known.

Evidently, the arrest and his response proved more than enough to almost immediately spark hundreds of outdoor demonstrations – beginning Jan. 23 – across the continent-spanning nation known for its unforgiving winter temperatures, revealing a true collective resentment of Putin’s authority.

The protests, supported by centrist-to-leftist movements, are therefore heavily opposed by the conservative status quo. Agents of the administration are therefore trying their best to hinder and dissolve the demonstrations, shutting down public transportation and arresting journalists and other civilians en masse across the country, among other methods, apparently no-holds-barred tear gas and stun-gun usage included.

As of Feb. 2, Russian citizens were still marching in incredible numbers, and likely largely because of their resilience, Navalny has just been officially imprisoned, ordered to finish a widely disputed embezzlement sentence with 2 years and eight months remaining, having already spent a year under house arrest.

In quite the hotspot for the protests, officials’ relentless attempts to stifle the massive crowds in Moscow have proved insufficient to quell the fury of locals understanding themselves to have been deeply wronged. Conflicts between the two sides have createde such already iconic images as the ones taken of participants firing snowballs at police forces, the clustered flakes bursting harmlessly, yet with great passion, onto their uniforms.

Indeed, the iconic legacy of Russia’s current internal strife already grows more perceivable as it continues – representing the long-exasperated attitude of a population more than ready to free itself of a dictator considered entirely intolerable, making these critical days under Putin’s gaze truly emblematic.