Dokument #2047849
RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Autor)
VLADIMIR, Russia -- Ivan Tumanov was born three days before Vladimir Putin first became Russia's president at the turn of the millennium. Now the 21-year-old who lives with his mother is the newest coordinator of an opposition movement that Putin, still president, is accused of using brutal tactics to dismantle.
Since Putin's biggest critic, Aleksei Navalny, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on February 2, his acolytes throughout Russia have been systematically targeted with raids, criminal charges, and police beatings amid a sweeping crackdown ahead of parliamentary elections expected in September.
But far from capitulating, his team this month announced the launch of 10 new regional offices to add to its Russia-wide network of branches that investigate local corruption, organize protests, and contest elections. Tumanov, a straight-talking, bearded third-year law student, got the nod in his native Vladimir, a placid provincial city 180 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
"We're once again gathering force," the newly minted Navalny coordinator said in an interview near a former nail salon he is turning into a campaign office. "And the danger we face by opening an opposition hub is nothing compared to the danger that our country faces if we don't engage in politics."
The regions chosen to host the new branches are seen by Navalny's team as offering fertile ground for the opposition to make inroads in advance of the crucial elections to the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament and a major staging point for turning Kremlin initiatives into law.
Vladimir, a historic city of 350,000 named after a medieval prince, saw its largest protest in years on January 23, when some 2,000 people came out to denounce state corruption and Navalny's jailing after he returned from Germany following treatment for a nerve-agent poisoning he blames on Putin. Nationwide, more than 100,000 people joined protests that day and on January 31, prompting a violent crackdown that saw some 10,000 arrested.
Vladimir is less than two hours by train from Moscow but average monthly salaries, at 35,000 rubles ($460), pale in comparison. Residents complain about crumbling infrastructure and potholed roads, but living standards are the biggest gripe. Disposable incomes plunged in the second quarter of 2020 by the largest margin since Russia's 1998 default, and years of falling wages and rising consumer prices are fueling the protest mood even as the Kremlin works to limit dissent.
"People just don't have money," says Vladimir Usachyov, a 45-year-old Vladimir entrepreneur who closed his once-thriving furniture business after almost two decades due to lack of demand. Usachyov blames the government, saying it has squeezed citizens dry and made it impossible for most small businesses to survive. "Because of Putin's policies, life has become much tougher," he said.
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