What happened to opposition politician Alexei Navalny will lead to the consolidation of the opposition around his figure, but strategically the consequences for her will be negative, political scientist, director of research at the ISEPS Foundation Alexander Pozhalov told Expert magazine.
“It will be morally unacceptable for all public figures of the opposition to criticize Navalny and his options for action in the 2020-2021 elections, while his life and recovery are in jeopardy,” Pozhalov said. But he immediately adds that if Navalny cannot be in politics for a long time, then without him, as without a bright leader, a new split will occur in the environment, which will turn out to be comparable to what was in 2016 in the absence of the deceased Boris Nemtsov.
Under the current conditions, Navalny may be perceived as a moral authority, but his organization, the FBK, will not be able to quickly introduce the leaders of the non-systemic opposition. The reason for this is the lack of tolerance among the bulk of the brightest figures around him.
Pozhalov believes that the strategy proposed by Navalny regarding the elections may be rethought in the opposition, and it may lose the support it previously had.