EFor the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin named his biggest domestic political opponent in front of the cameras, a good month after Alexei Navalnyj's sudden death for unknown reasons in a prison camp north of the Arctic Circle. While the Central Election Commission was officially counting the votes for Putin's latest confirmation in office late Sunday evening, he appeared in front of selected media representatives at Gostiny Dvor, a venue in central Moscow.
Western journalists were hardly among them; For example, when asked by FAZ Putin's staff whether they could attend the event in Gostinyj Dvor on Sunday evening, as was the case with Putin's previous confirmation in 2018, they said that they didn't know whether there would be one and also didn't know from whom to find out could. While Russian media representatives asked tame questions and sometimes congratulated Putin, an American reporter was obviously assigned the role of cue provider. Criticism of American conditions and elections made up a large part of Putin's appearance.
“Do you call that democracy?”
Keir Simmons from NBC asked Putin about the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in Russian custody for almost a year on espionage charges; after the Russian politician Boris Nadjezhdin, who is against the war and was unable to run because of alleged defects in the signatures he submitted for admission to the election; as well as Navalny, “who died in one of your prisons during your campaign. Mr. President, do you call that democracy?”
Putin replied: “That's life.” Nadyezhdin had done “insufficient work,” should have “cooperated more actively with his supporters” and “not allowed falsification of ballot papers.” By this Putin was referring to the lists with details and signatures of voters, of which he formally had to submit three times more than Nadjezhdin. “As for Mr. Navalny,” Putin continued, “yes, he has passed away. It’s always a sad event.”
That was the first surprise of the evening: On previous occasions, Putin had always avoided calling his opponent by name and thus elevating them. The only known exception may have been a reception on the sidelines of the Valdai discussion forum in September 2013. At that time, according to media reports at the time, when asked by an American journalist why he never called Navalny by name, Putin replied: “Well, why, Alexei Navalny is one of the leaders of the opposition, but there are many of them.”
On Sunday evening, Putin referred to the situation in Western countries and especially the United States in connection with Navalny, which is often referred to as so-called whataboutism and diversionary techniques. He said: “Well, we have had other cases where people have died in prisons. Didn't this exist in the USA? That happened and not just once.”