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Alexej Navalny (left) and Sergej Bojko in Novosibirsk, a few days before the poison attack in August
Photo: Coalition Staff 2020 in Novosibirsk
Suddenly it gets loud in the yard at the hockey field.
A young woman said the N word: Navalny.
Everyone was talking at once when Sergei Boyko said that the Kremlin critic was waking up from his coma, he heard noises, saw his eyes a little, and that his brain was probably not damaged after being poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent.
"What kind of poisoning, here in Siberia?" Calls out a little elderly lady with brown hair and a purple jacket.
"You have long reported that they don't even exist."
You, that's the state media.
Boyko takes a breath: "You really mean to say that he put himself into a coma? That was poisoning."
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Political discussions in the backyard: Sergej Bojko (left) with voters
Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL
The 37-year-old heads the Kremlin critic's office in Novosibirsk.
With more than 1.6 million inhabitants, the Siberian metropolis is the third largest city in Russia.
Boyko believes that Navalny was poisoned by state secret services, "with such a poison, who else has access?"
Bojko invited to a meeting in one of the backyards in the city center this week, one of many on the evenings before the election on Sunday.
In Novosibirsk, as in dozens of other regions in Russia, people decide on their MPs.
Boyko leads the "Coalition 2020" of 31 opposition candidates.
You want to move into the city parliament.
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The Ob River: An important transport hub in Siberia
Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL
Key region in the elections
Actually, such votes are about a lack of playgrounds, bad roads and pedestrian paths, of which Novosibirsk is abundant.
The metropolis on the Ob River is an important traffic junction in Western Siberia and keeps making headlines with building scandals.
But this time it is about more, also because the prominent opposition member Navalny lost consciousness shortly after he visited Novosibirsk, Siberia made the international headlines.
Navalny is still being treated at the Charité clinic in Berlin, where he was flown from Omsk, about 600 kilometers from Novosibirsk.
The vote in Novosibirsk is seen as an important test run for the State Duma elections next year.
The approval ratings for the Kremlin party United Russia remain low, the economy is stagnating, also because of the corona pandemic.
For Nawalny's fellow campaigners, the Siberian city is one of the key regions in which the power system can be challenged.
"This is where the fate of Russia will be decided," said Boyko during a conversation in the coalition office.
He comes into the rain on an electric scooter.
It sounds pathetic when he says it like that, but it rarely happens that the opposition unites and their candidates are then approved.
The candidates' flyers and posters are piled on tables, and the coalition's green and white logo hangs on the wall.
Boyko sleeps four hours a day, he says.
He speaks quickly, his hands are always in motion, a pen wriggles in one, and the other wipes the last raindrops from his face.
"I think the authorities were afraid of protests like in Khabarovsk. That's why they registered us," he says.
Regional votes in Russia are usually considered to be of little interest, resembling a simulation of an election, because it is clear who will win: the Kremlin party.
Not only does she have a lot of money, she also has influence.
Real opposition figures hardly stand a chance.
If an opposition is accepted, then only one that abides by the rules of the Kremlin.
"We have two enemies to fight against"
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Under observation: Sergei Boyko talking to voters, one of the mayor's employees on the bench in the back
Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL
In Novosibirsk, United Russia and the communists made a kind of pact.
Two years ago, when things weren't looking good for the governing party in the gubernatorial election, representatives of both parties announced that they would not go publicly against each other.
They divided the posts and thus the region between themselves: the country will continue to be ruled by United Russia, the city by the communists, whereby it is always clear who is dependent on whom - the Kremlin controls everything.
"So we have two enemies to fight against," says Bojko.
They call him the Siberian Navalny here.
The IT manager laughs when he hears this.
Outwardly, the two have little in common: Navalny is tall and slim, Boyko is small and compact.
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Hope is green: The 2020 coalition election office
Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL
But politically, their stories show parallels: Like Navalny, Boyko organized protests, in his case against the increase in local energy and water prices;
Like his role model, Boyko stood in the 2019 mayoral election in Novosibirsk.
He won almost 19 percent of the votes in this way, second place, which earned him respect even from political opponents.
When the police were standing in front of his apartment last autumn to search it, Bojko launched a drone from his balcony, attached to it: hard drives with important data from his political work, which he brought to safety from the authorities.
In fact, United Russia and the Communists have also made agreements in this election for the city council: only one well-known candidate from the two camps stands under the party's label.
However, there are also candidates who officially run as independents, for whom it is not always clear whether they are not also affiliated with the Kremlin party.
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Election poster in Novosibirsk: "United Russia - the party of care and respect".
The party's approval is only around 30 percent
Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL
Inquiries from SPIEGEL to the United Russia candidates go as follows:
One of them denies himself on the phone.
A second first agreed excitedly, only to later rant over the phone about a Western campaign.
He accuses SPIEGEL via WhatsApp of only wanting to talk about a film by Navalny that deals with the machinations of the local construction mafia (here you can see it with English subtitles), all members of United Russia.
Others also cancel.
Only Andrei Panfjonow, vice-chairman in the regional parliament, is ready to talk.
Regarding possible agreements with communists, he says that it is a question of the parties' strategy: "Why waste resources in constituencies where the chances are slim, when you can concentrate on those where it is worthwhile?"
Mayor's watchdog
Boyko does not run in any constituency.
He chose the most important and difficult ones in the center of the city.
Here near Lenin Square with the opera are the government buildings, here is a Communist of the Old Guard MP: Renat Suleymanov.
He is the mayor's right-hand man, he also accompanies him on construction sites in the city; he was a member of parliament during the Soviet era.
The 64-year-old Suleymanov accuses Boyko and his team of ultimately using the Kremlin party with their fight against his communists.
Suleymanov is confident of victory, relying above all on the older voters who have known him for a long time.
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Rely on old voters: the communist Renat Suleymanov
Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL
Boyko, on the other hand, woos younger voters.
He is active in social media, on YouTube and Instagram, has stickers stuck to bus stops, and distributes flyers at important points in his constituency.
He laughs when he hears that in addition to the representatives of United Russia, the communists are also complaining about his coalition.
"We have already achieved a lot with it," he says.
Bokjo often meets voters.
Also next to the governor's seat.
The police are present, including employees of the mayor, as is so often the case at the events of the opposition.
There are three of them, two of which initially deny that they are there on behalf of the mayor.
Their presence shows how nervous the city's leadership is.
In addition, there are constant disturbances from a presumably paid provocateur, who tries to push participants away, insults them as alleged Ukrainian secret service agents and calls Boyko the US henchman.
Finally his employees call the police and the man is taken away.
Attack on office and volunteers
The pressure is high, says Boyko.
He receives threats.
This week, two men in dark clothes and masks attacked Bojko's office.
When about 30 volunteers were taking part in an election observation training course there, they threw a bottle of caustic chemical liquid into the room.
Three activists had to be rushed to hospital because of nausea and breathing problems.
Volunteers were also attacked on the street, one was bitten, even coalition stands were destroyed. The place where that happened is striking: it is Daniil Markelow's neighborhood in the east of the city.
The 28-year-old is an employee of Bojko.
He had a good chance of winning the election against Alexei Djulay, a member of the Kremlin party.
He is one of the richest residents in the region. He owns a construction company that has built tens of thousands of apartments in the area - multi-storey prefabricated buildings "of poor quality," says his challenger Markelow.
In the film he had shot in one of the houses with Navalny, showing the missing elevator and holes in the walls;
they are now filled, the lift installed - after more than two years.
The building contractor and politician sent a notarized declaration that Nawalny's film was not true and that none of his customers had canceled the purchase of the apartments.
Markelov calls Dschulaj "a corrupt bandit, a mafioso" who can buy local dishes himself.
After a dubious verdict, Markelow is no longer allowed to stand for this election, allegedly too many of his supporters' signatures are invalid.
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Prefabricated buildings in Markelow's quarter, here Navalny made a film about the local construction contractor and Kremlin party politician
Photo: Christina Hebel / DER SPIEGEL
Strategic voting against Kremlin party
Markelow and Bojko now hope to still be able to prevent Dschulaj.
"Smart voting" is the name of the method that Navalny has developed, with which he has already taken several seats from the ruling party in Moscow.
He advises voting for the candidate who has the greatest chance of defeating the representative of the Kremlin party.
A pragmatic and tactical decision that not every opposition party likes: In Dschulaj's case, it is advisable to vote for a communist.
"There are two evils, this is the lesser one. It is the only chance of an exception," says Markelow.
Coalition leader Bojko would like five, ten or even more seats in the city council, in which a total of 50 mandates are to be awarded.
Its own opposition faction.
Will that work?
Many a regional political expert is skeptical.
After Navalny's poisoning, more volunteers came forward, says Bojko.
Everything now depends on how many followers will actually vote.
"Actually, Navalny should appear again with us," says Bojko.
"We lack his support now."
Icon: The mirror
Collaboration: Alexander Chernyshev