Alexei Navalny

I do hope it will happen

Russian advert compares anti-corruption campaigner and top blogger to Hitler | Mail Online

An advert aimed at discrediting an anti-corruption campaigner against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin compares him to Hitler.

Alexei Navalny is one of the key figures leading protests and activism to challenge the results of Russia's December 4 parliamentary elections.

Now an advert which matches some of his gestures while speaking at demonstrations to archival footage of Hitler was posted on a Russian blog dedicated to mocking Putin's opponents.

Mr Navalny is regarded as the only opposition figure to have emerged in Russia in the last five years and gained political prominence when he started blogging four years ago.

He is arguably the only major opposition figure to emerge in Russia in the past five years and owes his political prominence almost exclusively to a blog he started in 2008.

 

The advert, matches of Navalny's gestures, pictured left to Hitler pictured right

A video of the advert was uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday but it was not until Mr Navalny drew attention to it himself on his Twitter account the next day that it gained popularity.

It has now been viewed more than 343,000 times.

 

 

It is yet another attempt to caricature the campaigner who has also featured in cartoons as a fascist while raising his arm in a Nazi salute for his pro-nationalist politics.

Navalny's early blogs were about about allegations of malpractice and corruption at some of Russia's big state-controlled corporations, such as energy giants Gazprom, Rosneft and Transneft, and VTB bank.

The video is one of many attempts to caricature the campaigner who has also featured in cartoons as a fascist

 

Navalny is regarded as the only major opposition figure to emerge in Russia in the past five years

Previously, he had been a relatively minor figure involved in various opposition groups.

He was also involved in nationalist politics and has taken part in a number of the annual nationalist shows of strength, known as the Russian Marches.

In December 2008, his blog had just over 1,500 regular readers. By May 2010, it had over 11,000 and currently it has over 60,000 with 117,000 followers on Twitter.

Campaigner: Alexei Navalny owes much of his political prominence to blogging

The popularity of his blog enabled him to encourage internet users to join his anti-corruption campaigns by means of what he called his 'unstoppable mass complaints machine.'

The 'machine' worked by getting people to send hundreds of online complaints to investigative bodies demanding that they look into the case that Mr Navalny was pursuing at the time.

Last year he launched the website Rospil.info to expose and investigate corruption in the awarding of government contracts.