Slacker’s Syllabus: Alexei Navalny
Alexei Navalny is Vladimir Putin’s biggest, most visible critic.
Putin has served as president of Russia since 2008. During that time, he has changed laws to extend his reign, rigged elections in his own favor, and stomped out critics at every opportunity — including killing political opponents.
Despite this, Navalny has remained one of the most vocal and active critics of Russia’s autocratic leader.
Navalny got his start in Russian political activism through anti-corruption campaigns. After investing money into major Russian corporations in order to gain access to financial documents, he started publishing documents alleging to show massive amounts of state money being stolen.
He continued raising charges of fraud against Russian oligarchs, claiming that members of Putin’s cabinet were embezzling public funds and enriching themselves.
Eventually, Navalny turned his investigative eye to Putin himself and accused the president of building a billion-dollar palace with fraudulent funds.
