Ilya Milstein: "In Praise of Melancholy"

“You won’t believe it, but everyone has the right to go to the polls. That’s literally everything, imagine, and then he lists them who have the right to be elected and to be elected, and notices that he likes some more and some less And if you reflect on the list he announced, which does not include Putin, but includes Zyuganov, Yavlinsky, Sobchak and himself, Alexei Navalny, then you can even assume that the hero of last week, the famous TV presenter and socialite, has declared her claims to the presidency. he likes the post more. Well, than Zyuganov and Yavlinsky, not to mention Vladimir Vladimirovich,” writes publicist Ilya Milshtein in a column on the Radio Liberty website, commenting on Navalny’s first statements about candidate Sobchak after his 20-day stay in the detention center. .

“This is a rather unexpected move on the part of the politician who was released yesterday. This is a clever move. This is the right move. Despite the fact that just a month ago, Alexey Anatolyevich, having learned about the likely nomination of Ksenia Sobchak, was at a loss. That is, he did not choose expressions and named her views on politics and economy “cannibalistic.” Which did not mean that Navalny really thinks so. It meant that anyone who tries to take his place, the one and only leader of the non-systemic opposition, is considered a traitor by Navalny, regardless of whether this “someone” is allowed to run or not. It can also be assumed that Navalny was rejected by the very situation in which one of the oppositionists would be allowed to compete with Putin, but he, who not without reason considers himself the only real opponent of the leader of the nation, would not be allowed to participate in the race.

That is why Navalny reacted with such excessive fury even to the rumors initially started by the Kremlin administration. It probably seemed to him that these were completely different stories: Putin against Zyuganov with Zhirinovsky and Yavlinsky, and Putin against the same figures plus Sobchak. However, last week, almost immediately after Ksenia Anatolyevna’s famous address to the Russian people, it turned out that her target audience was rather unpleasantly surprised than pleased by the new prospects. Hopes have decreased, melancholy and disgust for the elections as such have increased. On the contrary, the attitude towards Navalny, who was still serving another term at that moment, only improved against the backdrop of what was happening...

Navalny allowed himself to be drawn into this alien game due to inexperience and some unbridled feelings. Now, apparently, having realized that the authorities would watch his conflict with the TV presenter with great and undisguised pleasure, he stopped playing according to the imposed rules...

Of course, because the split in the camp of dissent does not worsen yet, the country will not change, the mood will not improve, the elections of Putin (or whoever he appoints as Putin) will not acquire noticeable features of similarity with the normal expression of popular will. The successfully zombified population will vote as it should, no matter who the authorities, after calculating the ratings, include in the lists. Alexey Anatolyevich will remain a populist, albeit a very talented one, and his fresh speeches will continue to evoke a feeling of awkwardness along with other, stronger and more sublime feelings. In general, in the desert into which Russian political life is turned, many people support Navalny not because they agree with him on everything. But because in the desert you don’t have to choose mirages. Where you saw, there you wander.

Nevertheless, this is good news - about the end of the showdown between the one who was not allowed to participate in the elections and the one whom Uncle Volodya himself nursed. The news is not very encouraging, but it indicates that democrats in Russia are capable of not only fiercely pillorying each other and identifying traitors and spoilers in their ranks, but also of rational behavior. To speeches that are both mocking and conciliatory, which was so lacking in the dashing nineties, which culminated in Putin’s victory and the transformation of the country into a concentration camp without barbed wire and with borders still open, and in the happy 2000s, and after.

Alexei Navalny, melancholy praising those who have the right to go to the polls, sets a good example for other liberal politicians, and I would like to believe that in this new, positive and constructive style, discussions will continue to be held on the nomination of a single leader of the non-systemic opposition. Unless, of course, Alexey Anatolyevich changes his mind and gives free rein to his temperament, habitually cursing everyone who is not with him. As for the elections, you certainly shouldn’t go to them unless Navalny is not allowed to participate, which is almost inevitable. Here we must show intolerance that is otherwise reprehensible."