The American magazine Time published an interview with politician Alexei Navalny, who is serving a term in the Pokrovskaya colony No. 2 after replacing his probation in the Yves Rocher case with a real one. The photo of the oppositionist with the inscription «The Man Putin Fears» was placed on the cover of the publication.
Time magazine cover
The author of the material, Simon Schuster, communicated with the politician by mail: Navalny sent answers in several letters. The oppositionist asked not to ask too many questions, since he does not have much free time in the colony to write.
The politician recalled that in the correctional facility, almost none of the prisoners communicate with him. “Literally one is allowed to speak to me,” he said. In addition, the administration ordered that the windows in his cell be sealed with white sheets of paper, so that sometimes it seems to Navalny that he lives «in a shoe box.»
«There is no doubt that even the simplest decisions about my life are made here in the Kremlin, and on important issues — like the admission of doctors — Putin himself,»
— said the oppositionist.
Navalny also gave his take on reports of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began to be talked about this fall after the news about the concentration of military units and equipment on the border.
“The West falls into Putin's elementary trap over and over again. He puts forward some crazy ridiculous demands like the current […] And if the US does not agree, then he will “arrange something”.
The United States, instead of ignoring this nonsense, accepts Putin's agenda and runs to organize some kind of meetings. This is exactly what Putin needs. After all, the opposite suggests: if you don’t attack Ukraine, then we won’t impose sanctions. You will have a carrot, not a whip,”
— said the politician.
According to Navalny, over the year Russia has become an even more authoritarian state. “Russia in the fall of 2020 and now are different countries with a very different political regime. Even then it was a fully-fledged authoritarian government, but still, such a massive and total removal of candidates from the elections, the recognition of all independent journalists as “foreign agents”, and few people could have imagined thousands of people as extremists. Russia has covered a path in months that took Belarus years,” he said.
Speaking about the future, the oppositionist said that his main goal is to hold fair general elections in Russia.
“Well, there I will already take the place to be determined by the voters. It's important for me. I do not consider any scenario of power, except for fair elections, suitable and suitable. And not like Yeltsin — once honestly, and then censorship and falsification, ”he concluded.