Here is the Russian opposition without its main leader.
With the death of Alexeï Navalny, the bête noire of President Vladimir Putin, it is difficult to imagine a new voice emerging in the short term in Russia.
His death “underlines the danger of opposing power and Putin,” specialist Carole Grimaud explained to us on Friday.
Likewise, the few gatherings in his memory caused more than 400 arrests on Friday and Saturday, particularly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, according to the specialized NGO OVD-Info.
The vast majority of Vladimir Putin's other opponents are imprisoned or in exile, which drastically restricts their ability to act.
Vladimir Kara-Mourza
It's one of the most talked-about names.
Vladimir Kara-Mourza, 42, is currently imprisoned after receiving a 25-year sentence in April 2023 for “high treason”, he is accused of having disseminated “false information” about the Russian army.
Arrested in April 2022, after opposing the war in Ukraine, he is incarcerated in a penal colony in Siberia.
This figure claims to have survived two poisoning attempts in 2015 and then in 2017, blamed on Moscow.
Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Mourza during a hearing at the Basmanny court in Moscow in October 2022. AFP/Natalia Kolesnikova AFP or licensors
Illia Iachine
He too had criticized the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Illia Iachine, 40, had pointed out live on YouTube the action of his army in the Ukrainian town of Boutcha, scene of a massacre of civilians in April 2022. Illia Iachine was arrested in June 2022 then sentenced in appeal for eight and a half years in prison at a trial the following year.
Ilia Yashin was sentenced to spend 8 and a half years in prison in a penal colony.
Yuri Kochetkov/Pool via REUTERS
Oleg Orlov
Oleg Orlov is a symbol of the fight for human rights.
He is the co-founder of the Russian NGO Memorial
,
dissolved in December 2021 by the Russian Supreme Court.
Also anti-war in Ukraine, Oleg Orlov, 70, risks up to five years in prison.
His trial opened on Friday, the day of Alexeï Navalny's death.
He remains free for the time being, despite his repeated criticism of “Russian troops in Ukraine”.
Oleg Orlov, 70, appeared in court in Moscow on February 16, 2024. He is accused of “discrediting” the Russian army.
AFP/Alexander Nemenov
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was once the richest man in Russia.
This former oil giant opposed Vladimir Putin in the 2000s. Arrested in 2003, then sentenced in 2004 to 14 years in prison for acts of theft through "large-scale fraud" and "tax evasion" - that he denies - Mikhail Khodorkovsky was finally pardoned in 2013 by the Russian president and forced into exile.
He now lives in London.
Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky on March 20, 2017 in Berlin (Russia).
AFP/John MacDougall
Gary Kasparov
He too fled Russia.
Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion now exiled in New York, was temporarily imprisoned in Moscow in 2007 for participating in an anti-Putin demonstration.
In an interview with Le Parisien in March 2023, Garry Kasparov admitted “wanting the defeat of Russia” in Ukraine.
“As long as Putin is in power, there will be no peace,” he had already said on RTL in 2022.
Garry Kasparov is now president of the Foundations for Human Rights.
Here, he is attending the Security Conference in Munich (Germany) in February 2023. AFP/Odd Andersen AFP or licensors
Boris Nadezhdine
He had tried to oppose Vladimir Putin during the next presidential election in March.
But Boris Nadejdine's candidacy was rejected by the electoral commission, which cited administrative problems.
This ex-physicist entered politics in 1990, as a municipal councilor.
Deputy of the Duma - lower house of the Russian parliament - from 2000 to 2003, Boris Nadezhdine is deeply opposed to the war in Ukraine.
A position for which he risks prison.
Boris Nadezhdin's candidacy for the 2024 Russian presidential election has been invalidated by the Election Commission.
AFP/Vera Savina AFP or licensors
Shortly after Moscow announced the death of Alexeï Navalny, Boris Nadezhdine said “pray that the information is false”, presenting him as “one of the most talented and courageous people [he has] known in Russia.
If you don't know what to do, this information will be missing.
Алексей — один из самых талантливых и смелых людей в России, которых я знал.
— Борис Надеждин (@Borbornad) February 16, 2024
Other opponents of Vladimir Putin lost their lives during their fight.
This is the case of Boris Nemtsov, former vice-president of the country, who became an opposition figure and was shot dead in 2015 in Moscow.
In 2006, journalist Anna Politkovskaïa – who documented Russian abuses in Chechnya – was killed in the lobby of her Moscow building.