July 22, 2020

Last organised opposition in Russia succumbs under Kremlin offence

topic:	Democracy
located:	Russia
editor:	Igor Serebryany

The only remaining organised opposition movement in Russia, with a nation-wide network, announced it is leaving the political stage.

The Foundation to Counter Corruption, FBK, will be shut down after losing several court hearings that made the organisation bankrupt, its leader Alexei Navalny said Monday. "We have to announce that the FBK I founded nine years ago is closing down because it's been simply grabbed by the authorities," he said.

The start of the end of the FBK began last summer when the opposition nominated its candidates for the elections to the Moscow City Duma (legislative assembly). FBK conducted investigations of all nominees by the ruling United Russia party as well as of lots of the country's top officials. United Russia did not forgive that.

A few weeks before election day, nearly all independent candidates, Navalny including, were arrested. Still, a handful of the independents made it into the Duma, which made the Kremlin and Moscow Mayor boil. "They were scared that the organised opposition was able to move their candidates to the legislature without financing and with no access to the mainstream media. So they decided to get rid of us completely," Navalny said.

In September 2019, law enforcement and audit agencies launched a massive offensive against the FBK, searching its offices across the country and confiscating property and various hardware. After Justice Ministry declared the foundation a foreign agent in October, its bank accounts were suspended along with personal accounts of its salaried employees. The Justice Ministry made its decision on the account that the FBK has received a 50-dollar money transfer from the U.S.

Russian Guards, police and the prosecutor's offices filed lawsuits against the FBK, with some commercial enterprises, such as restaurants or road building companies, who followed the example and demanded multi-millions in "compensations" for alleged inconveniences caused by the opposition's rallies. 

The total sum of compensations ordered by the courts amounts to $1.5 million. Navalny admitted the foundation is unable to collect that money: "We don't even see any sense of collecting that sum via crowdfunding."

He promised that the organisation would be registered as a new judicial entity to continue its fight against corruption and Putin's regime.

Image by The Anti-corruption Foundation

Call to Action

Russia's #Cupofshame

Support now