Navalny Ally in Vilnius

Leonid Volkov
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Leonid Volkov speaks about the fallout after Alexei Navalny’s jailing

In an interview with BNS on February 3, his political campaign chief of staff Leonid Volkov said he believes Navalny’s jailing will boost his popularity and spark more protests against Vladimir Putin’s regime. He thinks European countries should freeze the regime’s assets, as Putin’s allies are spending dirty money in Europe, thus corrupting its politics. From Vilnius, Volkov coordinates Navalny’s regional network and likens his role to that of a foreign minister. Last week, Russian law-enforcement charged Volkov with encouraging minors to attend protests. He dismissed the charges as “made up” and unfounded.



Asked about the opposition’s strategy, Volkov explained that their long-term strategy is to make Russia a European country based on the rule of law, to get rid of Vladimir Putin and his regime, to get to a peaceful transit of power, to become the largest political power in the country. When Navalny decided to return to Russia, anticipating possible arrest, “he was also acting within our strategy, which is to raise people’s awareness about how corrupt and rotten the regime is, to raise people’s awareness about the alternative, to attract more followers and supporters”. Being in prison, he will become a symbol of the protest and will attract more attention. “And our goal is to increase the number of supporters, to increase Alexei’s approval ratings, decrease Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings, so that transition and change are inevitable.”

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny sentenced to two years and eight months in prison | Photo by HANDOUT/Moscow City Court press service/AFP via Getty Images

Asked whether he is concerned that the Russian government will try to use Interpol or other instruments to seek his own arrest, Volkov responded that this article of the Russian penal code regarding the incitement of minors (which Volkov is accused of) never existed, and only appeared several months ago. “I am the first person in Russia ever to be accused of this.” Under this article, it is not a severe crime, only a national search would be required and there would be no cause to involve Interpol. “I am not applying for asylum and I am not going to apply for asylum. I don’t consider myself to be in asylum because I am sure that all these accusations and charges against me are just made up.”

Regarding his current activities, Volkov specified that his activities are in Russia. “So I am the chief of staff of Alexey Navalny’s regional network of political offices. I manage 180 employees in 40 offices all across Russia from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok and I manage all regional and municipal political campaigns that we make in Russia.” They are preparing for the Duma elections, scheduled for September, and hope to defeat United Russia, Putin’s party, in as many districts as possible. “That’s my activity and, frankly, nothing has changed since I moved to Vilnius, because my office in Khabarovsk or my office in Lipsk doesn’t really care if I manage them from Moscow or from Vilnius.”

As to Vladimir Putin, Volkov explained “We have revealed, with this Putin’s Palace investigation, that the only thing President Putin really cares about is money. He is just a very nasty leprechaun with a pot of gold. He had unlimited resources; he could accomplish anything, having all Russian resources, money and talent. And our investigation revealed that his dream is just a huge palace, red carpets and gold everywhere. We managed to prove that he really cares only about money, not his geopolitical standing or making Russia great again.”



The strategy should be to go after money, he said. Russian official data suggest that the flow of capital from Russia is over 60 billion US dollars. Volkov thinks that according to unofficial data that amount is much higher. “So at least dozens or hundreds of billions of Russian taxpayers’ money are being stolen and exported from Russia and people buy houses, flats in Mayfair, chateaus in France, villas in Jurmala, whatever. This is all very dirty money that corrupts and rots European institutions.” Volkov concludes that Putin exports a lot of money, first of all, to Europe and uses this money to corrupt and destroy European political institutions. Thus the rebuttal should focus on this money. “Go after money, seize assets of Putin’s closest friends, allies, of Putin’s oligarchs, investigate how money comes from Russia to European political systems and cut off those channels, because it is also essential for the European political institutions to persist. It is not only for Russia, it’s in the best interest of Europe as well.”

From the interview on LRT.lt