Description

He is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most determined and outspoken opponent. He was nearly poisoned to death in 2020. Today, Alexei Navalny is in prison and Russia has changed a great deal. A five-part AFP podcast series.  

Episode #4 "The Palace"

Could Navalny’s obsession weaken his big opponent Vladimir Putin? His organization has ceaselessly exposed corruption in Russia with skillful use of social media and, just after his arrest, it struck a powerful blow, publishing a long documentary about a sumptuous Black Sea residence. According to the organization, this was at the president’s disposal. Then, tens of thousands of people hit the streets from Moscow to Yakutsk in Siberia with temperatures at -50C. People in more than 110 cities followed Alexei Navalny’s call to protest.

Sources 

Alexei Navalny, on « Putin’s Palace » (YouTube) 

Vladimir Putin, reaction to the allegations (archives)   

Maria Lipman, political scientist

Clementine Fauconnier, professor and Russia specialist at the University of Upper Alsace

Piotr Tolstoy, vice-president of the Duma

Sergei Guriev, exiled economics professor at Sciences Po university

Vladimir Milov, former deputy energy minister, member of the Navalny Fondation, exiled

Archives from protests

Credits

Authors: Jonathan Brown and Andrea Palasciano in Moscow, Antoine Boyer and Sarah-Lou Lepers in Paris. Hosts: Jonathan Brown and Andrea Palasciano. Editing : Antoine Boyer and Sarah-Lou Lepers. Translations: Vassily Koloskov. Music: Clemence Reliat and Nicolas Vair. Illustration: David Lory. Mixing: Christophe Robert. Communication: Amir Ajkic, Boris Bachorz, Coline Sallois. Marketing: Eleonora Gallerani, Laurent Nicolas. Editors in Chief : Michaela Cancela-Kieffer, Michael Mainville, Antoine Lambroschini.