LONDON, Sept 13 (Askume) – Divisions among Russia’s exiled opposition have grown sharply, with their focus now shifting from political activism to infighting, with allies of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny accusing other politicians of fleecing the leader’s activists.
The scandal undermines already struggling efforts to present a united front against the Kremlin, threatens to damage the opposition’s credibility in the eyes of supporters and the West, and pits two of the most high-profile opposition groups against each other, potentially leading to conflict.
The two opposition movements — one led by allies of the late Navalny and the other by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky — have been embroiled in public disputes before, but their latest split was the most intense yet, with Navalny’s camp publicly blaming Leonid Nevzlin, an Israeli tycoon and Khodorkovsky ally, for ordering attacks on Navalny’s senior aides Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov and the wife of an Argentine activist.
In the most serious incidents, in March, Volkov was attacked by a hammer-wielding assailant outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania , and Navalny died a month later in an Arctic prison, the assailant having caused serious damage to his arm and legs.
Navalny’s YouTube channel on Thursday released a nearly hour-long video investigating his team’s claim that the attack and two other incidents were ordered not by the Russian government but by Nevzrin.
Both Nevzlin and Khodorkovsky themselves spent a decade in Russian prisons on what the West called politically motivated charges, which they both denied were baseless.
With Navani’s death, the opposition lost its clear leader. His widow, Yulia Navani, vowed to continue his work and put pressure on President Vladimir Putin to leave the Kremlin, while Navani’s top aides continue to investigate the circumstances of her husband’s death.
“This is indeed a serious blow to the (anti-Kremlin) protest movement,” Ivan Zhdanov, one of the activists attacked by Navalny, said during an online discussion on the topic late Thursday.
“It’s hard to imagine how he (Nevzlin) could have done anything more serious than this. Whenever there is an attack in the future, people will wonder whether Putin, Russian intelligence or some opposition leader is behind it.”
The dissatisfied group expressed surprise
The Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), which is led by Navalny, said it had shared its findings with law enforcement in the countries where Nevzlin had traveled. The Lithuanian prosecutor general’s office declined to say whether it had received any information from the ACF, but said the investigation into the Volkov attack was ongoing.
Responding to X, Nevzlin said the charges appeared to be fabricated in Moscow and were similar to allegations made by Russian state media.
“These so-called ‘materials’ must be evaluated first by an independent investigation and, if deemed necessary, by the courts of a democratic country,” he wrote.
Khodorkovsky condemned the attacks on activists but defended Nevzlin, saying the allegations appeared to have come from Russian intelligence services.
“If the ACF wants to bring any charges against me, they can go to court. Don’t destroy my reputation through cunning means,” Khodorkovsky said.
Many in Russia’s dissident circles expressed surprise at the news and posted often abusive reactions on social media. But some have warned that the revelations will change nothing and will distract from the main task of defeating Putin.
Konstantin Sonin, an economist at the University of Chicago who was placed on Russia’s wanted list for criticizing the war in Ukraine , said “No matter how much damage a conflict causes, that damage doesn’t determine anything.”
“The opposition should not solve any major problems,” he wrote on Twitter. He said its real task is to “get back to the basic question – how to prevent war? How to get rid of Putin and end the regime?”
