“Apparently, the letter “N” and the number 2018 are an insult to our government.”

Heads of Navalny's headquarters - about the pressure on the security forces

On July 5 and 6, police officers in many Russian cities came to the headquarters of Alexei Navalny for "illegal campaign materials." Throughout 2017, pro-government activists attacked the heads and volunteers of the headquarters with impunity, threatened Navalny's supporters, brought administrative cases against them, and the owners of the premises terminated their lease agreements. Meduza spoke with the heads of Navalny's headquarters about what is happening in their offices right now.

Evgeny Domozhirov

Head of headquarters in Vologda

Today [June 6] the police came with a paper that they are allegedly looking for extremist literature, which contains slander and insult against the current government, as well as calls for mass riots. But now they are even seizing stickers with the letter “H” and the number “2018”. Apparently, the letter “H” and the number “2018” are already slander and an insult to our government.

There are about five police officers - one is an ordinary officer, the rest, apparently, are “TSP” [employees of the center for combating extremism]. They ask not to interfere with them, they count newspapers, leaflets and are going to confiscate them.

This is the first incident. Everything was relatively calm in Vologda. Even the meetings of Alexei [Navalny] in Vologda and Cherepovets went off calmly without provocations.

I have one understanding so far: Putin is afraid of Navalny. Not just afraid, but trembling. They were really afraid that Alexei [Navalny] might be registered and might win the election.

Alena Khlestunova

Head of headquarters in Tomsk

On the opening day of the headquarters, the doors to me and my deputy were sealed up, assembly foam was poured into the muffler of the car, and the car itself was smeared with paint. Leaflets were scattered in Tomsk, allegedly on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Foundation - with an appeal to donate from a thousand rubles, this was in the spring. I didn't receive any threats. It's all little mischief to scare.

True, before the rally on June 12, leaflets were confiscated from us. An employee of the "E" center came to the printing house, where they confiscated the entire circulation - eight thousand copies. Now the printing house has written a letter to us saying that the leaflets have been returned to them, and if we need them, we can pick them up.

Now we are all, surprisingly, calm. We took away all the leaflets and newspapers yesterday, although this is a problem in many cities. Obviously, they began to interfere with us, because the campaign has grown too much - and apparently, they want to counteract us in this way, because they cannot do otherwise.

Viktor Zyryanov

Head of Staff in Orel

On July 5 we received six boxes of flyers. We were already thinking about how to scatter them around apartments, backpacks, cars, so as not to leave them overnight [at headquarters]. At that moment, police officers entered the headquarters and said that they had a statement from some citizen Mikhailov that extremist materials were being distributed here - and they seized everything along with the boxes.

There were about 25 thousand leaflets, some of which we managed to pull out. Our lawyer made the cops count, six cops [at the station] actually counted them. We also had to bring stickers and newspapers. The papers were supposed to arrive today. I went to pick them up. Arrived - they said that there was no cargo, and he was on his way.

They also brought us two propaganda cubes from Moscow. Every time we try to install them, but we were not given the opportunity. Every day we bring applications to the mayor's office, and every time the excuses are either the United Russia party [took place], or the "Patriots of the Oryol region."

Elena Kulikova

Head of Staff in Rostov-on-Don

On June 26, my car was spray-painted and all four wheels were pierced. In just a few hours, volunteers raised money to buy new wheels. The paint was [removed] by hand, something at a service station, but we tried by hand. Rostov is a more or less calm city, so far there have been no searches or any completely limitless detentions, perhaps this is due to the fact that he is not politically active.

Perhaps the most unpleasant thing happened when we started the “I am for Navalny” action. I had a single bag, I was filmed by volunteers for security purposes. Employees of the Center for Combating Extremism, employees of the teaching staff, and a district police officer arrived. The police officer gave me a paper to sign that the organizer was warned about the inadmissibility of extremist actions. And in hindsight, they wrote that there was an unsanctioned rally. They wanted to charge me with the article under which Navalny was imprisoned - 20.2 part 8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses [participation in an unauthorized action]. Now in July we will have courts.

Today's events are connected with leaflets, which are massively confiscated and not allowed to be delivered. It is not clear what is happening with Delovye Linii ( the company that undertook to distribute Navalny's campaign materials around Russian cities - approx. Meduza ), which claims that the cargo was not delivered due to a technical failure. They called me yesterday [from there], they said that there was a delivery, and in the process it turned out that this was supposedly a technical failure, the cargo was still on the way.

Myroslav Valkovich

Head of headquarters in Krasnodar

On July 4, "Putin's detachments" - about 50 people of elderly women and men - came to the headquarters for the ninth time, tore down all the posters, turned tables and chairs over. They just rioted, shouted for 20 minutes and left the premises, after which we called the police. The police filmed everything, recorded everything, we filed an application, launched a trial. They chanted: "Get out!", "Traitors!"

Perhaps they are hired by pro-government structures, perhaps this is a private initiative, an attempt to earn political points. It's hard to judge. Grandmothers themselves may not understand that they are being manipulated.

In the spring, the Cossacks came to a press conference and rioted. Then we also wrote statements, but there was no answer. It is alarming that if earlier they just came, shouted and left, now they are starting to cross the line more and more.

Yuri Kuchin

Head of headquarters in Vladivostok

I have a trial tomorrow, and it is highly likely that they will put me in jail for 20-30 days under Article 20.2, Part 8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses - there are sanctions of 150 thousand rubles a fine or up to 30 days of arrest. I already have several administrative protocols for the rallies on March 26 - I then participated in a completely legal procession, but the police wrote that I stopped and organized my own illegal picket.

We could not open the headquarters for a very long time; it is expected to open tomorrow. The authorities constantly interfered, disrupted the rent of the premises. We agreed on a lease, a day later the tenant calls back and says that he has changed his mind about signing the contract. We lost about ten contracts like that.

We also have individual terror against volunteers. Several volunteers served time on far-fetched reasons. Two served four or five days in prison for allegedly extremist materials. There is currently one person seated. They are accused, for example, of taking some kind of photo with the Right Sector back in 2014 ( the organization is recognized as extremist in Russia and banned ). The police search through personal pages on social networks, find the slightest clue and judge by extremist articles, close them for several days.

Recorded by Nikolai Pakholnitsky