Russian President Vladimir Putin is struggling with anti-government protests across the country.
Protesters calling for the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalni, who stood against him, cover hundreds of cities.
Navalni, who has been alive from the threat of poisoning, continues to expose the image of President Putin, such as suspicions of luxury palaces and suspicions of extramarital children, through close friends even in prison.
◇Protesters covering from the Far East at sunrise to the European border =Russia’s territory spans 11 hours from the Far East and the outskirts of the West to Kaliningrad, with protesters gathering every weekend in 100 cities, starting from the Far East, where the sun rises first, to the West, which borders Europe. It is estimated that up to 40,000 in the capital Moscow and 10,000 in the second city of St. Petersburg, opposing Navalni’s detention and demanding the truth of various suspicions surrounding President Putin. Bloomberg News reported that the scale of the protests was the largest since the anti-government protests in 2018. The Russian authorities have made all protests illegal and are catching participants on a massive scale. The arrest and surveillance organization OVD Info said that as of the 31st of last month, 4,500 people were arrested.
Nevertheless, the protests continue. Navalni was sentenced to two years and six months in prison as a Russian court sentenced Navalni to convert his probation to jail. Navalni support groups held mass protests in front of Moscow courts, where 1,000 people were arrested.
◇Economic crisis and inequality accumulated by firewood of anger=The fuse of the protest was Navalni’s detention. But already, the complaints of the Russians were piled up like firewood.
There was a dark cloud of economic crisis. The Russian Statistical Office said that the growth rate of domestic gross domestic product (GDP) last year was tentatively calculated at -3.1%. It is the biggest setback in 11 years since 2009, when the aftermath of the global financial crisis occurred. Russians feel it with their skin. Last year, the real income of the Russian people decreased by 3.5% compared to the previous year. The unemployment rate is 5.9%, the highest since 2011.
The widening gap between the rich and the poor is also a big social problem. Shortly after his detention, Navalni sharply accused Russia of inequality through YouTube. This video, which made a huge wave immediately after its release, has more than 160 million views.
Reuters cited young and old Russians who took part in the protests, saying, “They are outraged by the falling standard of living and are frustrated by the widening gap between the average person and the few elites.”
(Seoul = News 1)
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