Translated material
“Not a trace remains of the memorial”
“Not a trace remains of the memorial”
Editorial “Layout” March 11, 2024 |How Navalny memorials are destroyed and restored abroad
After news of the death of Alexei Navalny in a colony, Russians in dozens of countries around the world organized spontaneous memorials in memory of the politician. Most often they were located near Russian embassies. Soon, in some countries, similar memorials began to be robbed and destroyed - posters were torn down, flowers were thrown into nearby trash cans, and frames with photographs of the politician were broken. “Verstka” spoke with Russian activists who are in 11 countries around the world, and tells how memorials are protected locally, who is trying to destroy them, and what actually comes out of this.
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From Georgia to Argentina
“Our memorial was formed spontaneously on February 16, when it became known about the murder of Alexei,” says Yulia, a participant in the anti-war movement of Russians in Warsaw. “Within half an hour after the news appeared, people arrived at the Russian embassy, where we usually hold rallies. Some came out with posters, others with flowers, with candles.”
Similar spontaneous memorials in memory of Alexei Navalny have appeared in at least 68 cities around the world. They were organized mainly on the day when it became known about the death of the politician in the colony - February 16. However, already on the first day, some of the memorials were destroyed.
Russians from 13 cities in 11 countries around the world, in a conversation with a Vorstka correspondent, confirmed that in their cities memorials in memory of Navalny were completely cleared or partially looted. Among them: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Serbia, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Finland and Argentina.
The attacks targeted mainly memorials erected near Russian embassies. According to activists on the ground, such sweeps involve local utility workers, Russian embassy employees and pro-Russian activists.
“They tear down posters, then throw away flowers”
In four countries, memorials in memory of Navalny were destroyed in the very first days. Buenos Aires resident Julia says that in their case, the memorial was cleared within the first 24 hours after its appearance.
“The memorial was organized by itself near the Russian embassy on February 16, because on the same day a spontaneous rally was held there,” recalls Yulia. “People brought flowers, brought posters, photographs of Alexei. But the problem was that literally the next day people noticed that everything near the embassy had been removed: the flowers had been removed, the posters had been peeled off, the photographs had disappeared. Not a trace remains of the memorial.”
In Italian Genoa, according to local resident Anna, she was completely forbidden to leave flowers and candles near the Russian consulate building. The prohibition was announced by the employees standing at the entrance.
“I replied that regardless of their permission, I would still do what I came there for. Then they threatened to call the police,” says Anna. “The police arrived, took a photo of the memorial, my ID card, wrote down my phone number and convincingly asked me to remove Navalny’s photo, flowers and candle. I know for sure that after I left, the police got rid of my little memorial to Alexei.”
On the second day, the memorial organized in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, was partially destroyed. In fact, the memorial is located not at the Russian consulate, but at the German one. As its organizer says, activists hoped to protect it from destruction.
“On the night of February 17-18, unknown people tore down all the posters, took away frames with photographs, and threw away flowers,” says Dmitry Gramotnik, a representative of the anti-war movement SLOVO. — People began to restore the memorial. But since then, almost every night something happens to him: sometimes posters are torn down, sometimes flowers and photographs are thrown away. Someone always comes and destroys the memorial.”
In Baku, the monument to the Azerbaijani poet and writer Huseyn Javid, who became a victim of Stalinist repressions, was chosen as the site for an unofficial memorial. Nevertheless, the memorial itself did not have time to form there: the police removed the flowers and candles shortly after they appeared at the monument. Russians living in the city reported this in one of the local chats.
“I laid flowers at the monument to Hussein Javid on February 19,” recalls Maria, a resident of Baku, in a conversation with a Vorstka correspondent. “I sat next to her on a bench, feeling sad for about five to ten minutes. During this time, two more girls brought flowers, no one interfered or destroyed. I left. I walked past this monument a couple of hours later; there were no more flowers. In a local chat, people wrote that the flowers were being removed, I didn’t believe it, but it turned out that they were really disturbing someone.”
In seven more countries, memorials were cleared and destroyed after Navalny’s funeral. Thus, in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, the memorial disappeared on the morning of March 4. It was installed across the road from the Russian embassy building and adjacent to the wall of the city park.
“On the same day, people again brought flowers, candles, posters, portraits,” says Alipat Sultanbegova, a journalist for Sota Vision in Yerevan and one of the organizers of the memorial. — They put them in the same place. The next day it was all removed again.”
A similar memorial in Belgrade disappeared on March 5. At the same time, the memorial at the Russian embassy in Warsaw was cleared.
“People usually come there once every few hours, take pictures and show that everything is fine,” says Yulia, a participant in the anti-war movement of Russians in Poland. - So is March 5th. Early in the morning, a person wrote in the chat that everything was fine, but by noon the memorial was no longer there. People brought portraits, expensive frames, and in fact this was looting, theft of property.”
By March 6, the second memorial in Tbilisi was destroyed. “This could have been done by the mayor’s office, or by radical pro-Russian activists, it could have been anyone,” says one of the organizers of the second memorial, former head of Navalny’s headquarters in Chuvashia, Semyon Kochkin. “You can’t go to the police with this.” People continue to bring flowers to the same place and assemble the memorial from scratch. What remains to be done?
In addition, on March 8, the memorial in Florence disappeared.
At the same time, for example, in Budapest, the memorial is not completely cleared, but partially destroyed. “They are tearing down individual posters that mention Putin,” says Artyom, a reporter for the Russian anti-war group Vogyunk . — For example, I made a poster “He died for our sins,” but it was also torn down. I assume that these are embassy employees, since they only break on weekdays and early in the morning. Apparently, they are trying to turn the oppositionist’s memorial into an ordinary grave with flowers and photographs.”
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“We are 99% sure that the complaint came from the Russian embassy”
The first memorial in Tbilisi, organized near the fence of the Russian Federation Interests Section at the Swiss Embassy, was dismantled by the section employees themselves while journalists and activists were filming them. As one of the organizers of the memorial told Vorstka, they became aware of the planned cleanup a few days before it. After that, they emailed the interests section itself. They confirmed their intentions to remove the memorial and offered to agree on a time for this. However, activists do not know for sure who cleared the second memorial.
In Argentina, according to the organizer of the memorial, Yulia, they were able to film how people were leaving the embassy building, tearing down posters, throwing out flowers and going back.
“We watched, calculated, and these are the people who come out of the embassy doors,” says Yulia. — These are not Argentines, but our guys, so to speak, of Slavic appearance. Therefore, we know for sure that they are the ones robbing the memorial.”
In Yerevan, according to activists, the police told them about the possible involvement of embassy employees.
“On the same day [when the memorial was destroyed] we organized a gathering, which was attended by police officers,” says Alipat Sultanbegova. “As the police explained to us, the memorial was cleared by utility workers, most likely based on someone’s complaint. They advised us to make a request to the mayor's office. Now we are just waiting for a response from the mayor's office. But we are 99% sure that the complaint came from the Russian embassy.”
The police in Belgrade also cited utility workers, says Konstantin, an activist of the Russian Democratic Society (RDS) in Serbia.
“The formal reason is the dissatisfaction of local residents, but we have not heard of any dissatisfaction and do not know who could express it,” says Konstantin. — We did not receive any hints or signals from the police, or dissatisfaction from Serbian citizens <…>. All indirect signals, rumors, leaks, news tell us that this is the work of certain pro-Russian forces or special services, which are implemented here not even at the top political level, but through the security agencies.”
A representative of the anti-war movement in Slovenia, Dmitry Gramotnik, says that in their case, local pro-Russian activists may be involved in the destruction of the memorial. They were already spotted at the memorial once. “These are Slovenian citizens, but they are pro-Putin,” says Dmitry. “On February 24, they put their signs with pro-Russian propaganda slogans about the “Nazi Ukrainian regime” on the memorial.”
However, he has no actual evidence. Dmitry clarifies that he requested recordings from surveillance cameras from the nearby German embassy. “They showed how some man in a black hood was clearing our memorial, but neither his face nor where he came from was visible,” says Dmitry.
At the same time, activists are not always able to count on any help from the police or nearby consulates. Thus, in Warsaw, according to Yulia, a participant in the anti-war movement of Russians, the police, like city services, do not cooperate with activists.
“You see, the memorial is not located at any monument in the city. He’s at the Russian embassy, there’s a police post next to him,” says Yulia. — Since the appearance of the memorial, three policemen have been constantly on duty there. But when you go up to them to ask what happened [to the memorial], they say that they arrived here only an hour ago, they just started their shift, they don’t know anything, they’re not responsible for anything, and they send them to the authorities.”
According to Yulia, activists wrote to the mayor’s office and contacted the police department, but both authorities sent activists to each other: “The only answer [from the mayor’s office] that we received was to go to the police. The police told us: “Look for the authority that is responsible for this piece of land in front of the embassy.” That is, this piece of land outside the walls of the embassy is not under the jurisdiction of the embassy itself and some other authority is responsible for it. It’s all some kind of vicious circle.”
“We exist, we care”
Vverstka’s interlocutors note that, despite regular clean-ups, people continue to bring flowers and candles to the places where memorials were organized.
“It seems to me that the importance of this memorial lies not only in seeing like-minded people and mourning together, but also in the fact that it shows that we exist,” says Julia from Warsaw. “This is a representation of the Russian diaspora, which opposes the war, against this government. There are very few Russians in Poland compared to Ukrainians and Belarusians. This memorial reminds us that we exist, that we care.”
As a measure to counteract those who destroy memorials, some activists are introducing regular vigils.
“Now everything is arranged in such a way that we have a team of a certain number of people there who come one by one and stand guard for one, two, three hours so that the embassy employees do not come out and rob our memorial,” says Julia from Buenos Aires. — If we see that an embassy employee comes out of the door and goes to plunder the memorial, we have a certain list of actions. I would not like to disclose it in detail, because this is, in fact, our idea, which we keep secret, including so that the embassy employees do not know what we will do, but it works. We’ve already managed to protect the memorial like this once.”
In Yerevan and Belgrade, meanwhile, activists are discussing the idea of organizing a permanent memorial to replace the temporary one. So, in the capital of Armenia they are thinking about installing a drinking fountain in memory of Navalny.
“ Pulpulaks have very great symbolism,” says Alipat Sultanbegova. “They are installed in honor of deceased people. When a person bends down to drink, he thereby pays tribute to the one in whose honor the pulpulak was installed.”
For now, activists are busy choosing a location and obtaining permission to install the memorial. They plan to raise money for its creation among like-minded people around the world.
In Belgrade, they have not yet decided in what form a permanent memorial can exist. As activist of the Russian Democratic Society Konstantin says, he and his colleagues are still trying to resolve bureaucratic issues related to the protection of such objects.
“Here, unfortunately, there are no clear rules and procedures for coordinating such initiatives with the authorities,” he says. “This is all at the level of verbal agreements with local police officers, but from a legal point of view they are in such a gray field. If we do not have the opportunity to achieve some kind of documentary, legal protection of the monument, in whatever form we want to make it, then it will be dismantled at the request of whoever it is, and we will not be able to do anything about it.”
Previously, “Verstka” reported that in Russia, in at least 190 settlements, actions were held or memorials were organized in memory of Alexei Navalny. In most cases, local police destroyed the memorials on the day they appeared, but candles and flowers reappeared in the same places.
Cover: Dmitry Osinnikov
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