Crackdown in Russia: Kremlin calls anti-Putin protesters 'hooligans'

Do we have any Russians in the forum? I would like to hear an insider's perspective.

Quote from bartkun

I suggest watching this

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I meant something like a forum post. Boots on the ground so to speak. Just a hot take from a regular here in the forum. Nothing wrong with the video but it's polished for an audience.

Quote from StCatMouse

Do we have any Russians in the forum? I would like to hear an insider's perspective.

I'm from Moscow. What would you like to know?

***

Some insider's info before you ask.

- Protests are much smaller than the Western media tries to show. Unfortunately. I've heard an expression "unprecedented scale", nope nothing like this. ~30-40K protesters is nothing for a 13 million Moscow. Most people, especially the older generation don't care what happened to Navalny. 2011-2013 protests (link) looked MUCH more promissing.

- Most people appreciate Navalny's work in exposing the corruption but he's not seen as a good political leader. He never had a clear political agenda in the spheres that does not apply to corruption.

- With a probability of 99% in 2024 there'll be a new president since Putin made a new law for himself (immunity of the ex-president).

Quote from 0neechan

I'm from Moscow. What would you like to know?

***

Some insider's info before you ask.

- Protests are much smaller than the Western media tries to show. Unfortunately. ~30-40K protesters is nothing for a 13 million Moscow. Most people, especially the older generation don't care what happened to Navalny. 2011-2013 protests (link) looked MUCH more promissing.

- Most people appreciate Navalny's work in exposing the corruption but he's not seen as a good political leader. He never had a clear political agenda in the spheres that does not apply to corruption.

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A few:

- What's your opinion of the current regime? Pros and cons. Do you feel relatively safe?

- How big actually is the opposition? Can regular people openly criticize the government? Does Russia have something like a Fox/CNN network (just as an example) that are polar opposites of each other? Where one might be pro-government while the other isn't? I'm generalizing here but I hope you get the idea.

- Do you think international media is/isn't covering news concerning Russia accurately? Among the many outlets, who covers it the most fair or most truthful?

- What's your take on the accusation that Navalny was poisoned by the government? What's the general feeling there when news of individuals dying of what seems like a state-sanctioned assassination (e.g. Boris Nemstov, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, etc.)

- The ex-commies should (and will) die out soon. Their time has passed. I do feel safe.

- Not big. Putin has his real 60+%, they fake some results in order to make them more impressive but he and his party United Russia have legit power and support. Communists have something around 20% from the eldery people. And the rest are different democrats. Many of them are just Putin's puppets and can't be counted as a real opposition.

You can criticize government as much as you want. The problem is that any public protests and demonstrations should be approved by the city authorities, some of them get it, some of them don't. Now they use Covid as an excuse to ban everything despite there is no lockdown in Moscow.

I don't watch TV. I'm not really interested what is going on in this sphere. There is one fully oppositional channel called "Дождь" (Dozhd - Rain).

- No. It's bias and propaganda from the both sides. Euronews and Al Jazeera are the most neutral IMO.

- The general feeling is disturbance of course. But you are not surprised to see such actions from an ex-KGB agent.

Leonid Volkov, the head of Navalny's staff, announced that the protests are postponed until spring.

***

To be honest I don't know what Navalny was thinking about when he desided to return and start the protests in winter. It wasn't a great idea.

I was thinking of going to previous weekend protests but I've changed my mind not because I was afraid of the police (if you are a girl the chance that you'll be detained is low, unless you're a famous activist, OMON has directions to grab the young men first of all), but because I didn't want to freeze my ass at -10 C in the street. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thought like this.

Quote from 0neechan

Leonid Volkov, the head of Navalny's staff, announced that the protests are postponed until spring.

***

To be honest I don't know what Navalny was thinking about when he desided to return and start the protests in winter. It wasn't a great idea.

I was thinking of going to previous weekend protests but I've changed my mind not because I was afraid of the police (if you are a girl the chance that you'll be detained is low, unless you're a famous activist, OMON has directions to grab the young men first of all), but because I didn't want to freeze my ass at -10 C in the street. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thought like this.

What's the general opinion on the EU & the US among the general public?

What does the public think of Russia's expansionism? (ex: Crimea, Georgia)

Is Putin's party capable of creating successors after him? Or is he more popular than his party?

I hope you don't mind my questions...

Quote from Solar_System

What's the general opinion on the EU & the US among the general public?

What does the public think of Russia's expansionism? (ex: Crimea, Georgia)

Is Putin's party capable of creating successors after him? Or is he more popular than his party?

I hope you don't mind my questions...

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1. Different people, different opinions. They can be absolutely polar. There is no something "general".

The only general thing I can tell is that most Russians whether they are pro- or anti-Putin think that Russia is self-sufficient and doesn't need any foreign advisors. Western countries should mind their own business when it comes to our domestic policy.

2. Same.

3. Yes, and they will definitely start advertising a successor when it comes closer to elections. There are some most likely candidates like Medvedev once again (he's works in Security Council now), or director of Foreign Intelligence Service, or defense minister, or current prime minister, or Moscow mayor, or chairman of the Accounts Chamber, or even someone not well know (same scenario how Yeltsin has introduced Putin is possible too).

Quote from 0neechan

1. Different people, different opinions. They can be absolutely polar. There is no something "general".

The only general thing I can tell is that most Russians whether they are pro- or anti-Putin think that Russia is self-sufficient and doesn't need any foreign advisors. Western countries should mind their own business when it comes to our domestic policy.

2. Same.

3. Yes, and they will definitely start advertising a successor when it comes closer to elections. There are some most likely candidates like Medvedev once again (he's works in Security Council now), or director of Foreign Intelligence Service, or defense minister, or current prime minister, or Moscow mayor, or chairman of the Accounts Chamber, or even someone not well know (same scenario how Yeltsin has introduced Putin is possible too).

Thanks. It makes sense that there is no general opinion since Russia is such a large country.

Quote from Solar_System

Thanks. It makes sense that there is no general opinion since Russia is such a large country.

Here's a non-serious video about some stereotypes and other opinions from the random people in Moscow.

О, Господи. И тут Навальный засветился