Today, September 8, 2019, Russians will go to the polls for local and regional election, and conduct more than 5,000 electoral contests.[1]However, the focus of debate within the opposition is the vote for the Moscow city council, as the summer's organized rallies protested the barring of dozens of independent candidates from these elections.
Ahead of the elections, the conservative orthodox media outlet Tsagrad TV with monarchist leanings posted an article, titled "'The Tricky Federal Security Service (FSB) Agent' Against The 'Swiss Loser': How Navalny And Khodorkovsky Are Slaughtering The Opposition," arguing that the opposition's two main leaders, Alexey Navalny and Mikhail Khodorkovsky are inadequate to the task of opposition leaders.
According to Tsagrad TV, Khodorkovsky is motivated purely by a thirst for revenge, desire for power and hopes for recouping his money that was confiscated by the government. As for Navalny, his sole interest is pursuing a personal vendetta. Tsagrad TV believes that an appropriate motto for Navalny is: "Let the world burn, but do not let it [success] go to United Russia."
Tsagrad TV assessed that given the two leaders' failure to converge on a general plans, the best they could obtain was a Pyrrhic victory.
Below are excerpts from Tsagrad TV's article:[2]
(Source: Tsargrad.tv)
Political Talents Are Not Provided Simply By The Fact Of Being In The Opposition
"It seems that our oppositionists are profoundly inadequate people. At the most crucial moments of their political actions, their leaders propose impossible plans and disastrous strategies. This is understandable, because political talents are not provided simply by the fact of being an opposition member.
"But, among other things, the most inadequate thing is the diversity of proposals on how to act in a given political situation. Our 'Bonapartes of protest' cannot converge on the general plans on how to overthrow Putin's 'autocracy'.
"Navalny still demands, despite the failure in registering his followers, to go to the polls anyway and conduct some kind of 'smart vote'! All this in order to take revenge both on the 'courtiers' of United Russia and on the 'august' Putin.
"Khodorkovsky immediately called this a betrayal and a legitimization of the elections: 'voting for candidates who do not clearly state their position against repression and the political use of criminal prosecution is a betrayal, irrespective of the political consultancy reasons argued.'
"In this way, the unprincipled Khodorkovsky, intends to show Putin his 'moral rectitude'. Words about 'morality' hardly crossed his mind when he was the owner of a billion [dollar] fortune. He wanted to invest billions in himself: in the project 'Khodorkovsky - a head of Russia'. It did not work out. He did time behind the bars, he was offended, promised not to get involved in politics and got released, left [Russia]. While in Switzerland, with a clear conscience, he forgot everything he had promised.
"Khodorkovsky, again a Swiss citizen, like a schoolgirl, all [dressed] in white. [This is] the moral authority of the opposition. And from his exile, he urges to stop treating September 8 as a day of elections and to engage [instead] in street disobedience.
"From the point of view of the Swiss 'Bonaparte' everything is logical. What is there to gain from Moscow City Council elections, it is clear that the oppositions will not score any points there. Let's go immediately to the streets, to fight, to make a revolution, to overthrow Putin's 'autocracy'. Who is [Moscow Mayor Sergei] Sobyanin to Khodorkovsky, who Khodorkovsky is to Sobyanin? Let's take down Caesar himself.
"Khodorkovsky stayed in Switzerland like Lenin or Trotsky. He wants to get back to Russia by plane, by ship or [like Lenin in 197] in a 'sealed railway car', with some April Theses [again channeling Lenin], jump on an 'armored car' and, finally, quench his thirst for revenge, desire for power and the return of his money.
"Khodorkovsky is not really interested in these city elections; he is interested in trying to shake up the situation as much as possible, to get some 'sacrificial victims', and to create 'a big problem in place of a tranquil city.'
"He put himself in contrast with the other 'Bonaparte protestor', Navalny, and says that he doesn't ask, like the other one, to 'register anyone on lists that can help the FSB to ruin your life', or 'to vote at the behest'.
"It's a very clear hint that signing up on Navalny's list for smart voting can bring one to the FSB's attention. This is what will happen, without any doubt, even without the direct participation of Navalny himself. They will inevitably come to know, because the government controls the oppositionist mood in society, and does not want to have unforeseen surprises.
"In general, although Khodorkovsky did not call for a total boycott of the elections, he called the political technique ideas of Navalny 'nonsense', and merely another variant of 'Bolotnaya betrayal'. The Swiss 'Bonaparte of protest' is clearly closer to more militant revolutionary activity: spoiling ballots, hanging leaflets and street rowdyism.
"Navalny continues to refuse all the criticism raised by his tactics. He wants his own vendetta. Let the world burn, but do not let it go to United Russia. This Bitcoin 'Bonaparte of protest'[3] will spend all the credibility as an oppositionist and all his old guard [the elite formation of the Emperor Napoleon's army] for this dismal Pyrrhic victory in Moscow, which in reality will not be a victory.
"Claiming that he can give only 13,000 rubles for 'political prisoners', about 1,000 for each of his 'warmly-loved comrades', Navalny continues to insist that 'the regime will regret' if, inside the party system, which [the regime] itself has built, the United Russia will get slightly less percent than the Communists, Zhirinovites, or Just Russians [all three parties are part of the tame systemic opposition to Putin]..."
[1] Russia will hold more than 5,000 elections. Among them are elections to 13 legislative assemblies. Six regions will elect their governors, 22 administrative centers will elect city parliaments, and three regional capitals will vote for heads of municipalities. Apart from that, four single-mandate districts (in the Khabarovsk, Novgorod, Sverdlovsk and Oryol regions) will hold by-elections to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament). (Tass.com, September 7, 2019)
[2] Tsargrad.tv, August 23, 2019. The article was written by Smolin, Mikhail.
[3] Navalny is reputed to having attracted 3 million dollars in Bitcoin contributions.
