Exclusive: Opposition Leaders in London Are Putin's Next Target
The Kremlin’s war on the Russian opposition has now become so savage it has torn up its own rulebook. Russian dissidents struggling against Vladimir Putin used to be sure of two things. The security services would not shoot them and they would not come after their families. Not any more.
Vladimir Ashurkov is one of Russia’s most notable dissidents after Alexei Navalny – and his right-hand man. But he could not be more different from the moralists and street protesters that make up most of the opposition. Ashurkov was one of the country’s leading investment professionals: a well-off, successful, Western-educated top manager who switched to politics.
With soft-spoken manners and corporate efficiency, Ashurkov helped turn Navalny from a blogger into a national politician with a highly-professional team able to run for mayor of Moscow. Ashurkov brought two important assets to Navalny – one of the best policy minds in Moscow and elite respectability. With Ashurkov behind him, it was clear Navalny was a serious politician with a policy agenda discussed at the most moneyed tables in Moscow.
The Russian authorities are now out to get him, he says. But not only him. They are also trying to inflict pain on his family by persecuting his partner Alexandrina Markvo, a leading figure in the arts in Moscow, and mother of his nine-month-old baby – with a politically motivated case. “Russian authorities are trying to make an example of us,” says Ashurkov. “They want to punish me for supporting Navalny in a way that will discourage others from doing the same. That’s why they are not only coming after me. They are now coming after Alexandrina. This is new. The authorities never used to hunt down family members of its enemies. When Putin went after Mikhail Khodorkovsky he never touched his wife and children during his 10-year jail sentence. Khodorkovsky even thanked Putin for not touching them. But these rules are now over. The authorities are consistently increasing the degree of repression following the crisis in Ukraine and the economic decline of recent months. This is why they have already jailed Navalny’s brother, who was never involved in politics. Now they want to do the same to my partner.”
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/03/27/exclusive-opposition-leaders-london-are-putins-next-target-314743.html
Greenwald and Snowden unavailable for comment, as usual
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