Journalistic research is time-consuming

In the “Navalny affair”, much media reporting is too simplistic – here’s what it takes to get more information

by Christian Müller

(21 March 2021) On February 13, 2021, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung published on its front page a lead story on the future of Navalny and Putin¹ by journalist Andreas Rüesch. The words “opposition” and “opponents” appeared repeatedly through-out the article, but – whether intentionally or not – Rüesch never explained what this opposition actually entails in Russia.

Everyone now knows that Navalny is opposed to Putin. But what does he really represent? What is the political programme of this Putin critic, who urged people to go out and demonstrate, despite a ban on public meetings in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic? And who are his supporters? Is he really the right figure to be hyped up as a freedom hero by Western countries?

On August 20, 2020, it was reported that Navalny had been poisoned. Half a year later, he is still portrayed as “the” opposition in Russia. Even the Echo der Zeit news programme on Swiss Radio SRF, generally one of the best sources of international information on offer, noted only recently for the first time, in a short report from the Russian provinces² on February 16, that Navalny is not “the” representative of the opposition but that, in fact, he is rejected outright by certain opposition groups – and with good reason.

So where can one find independent information?

NATO-friendly Western media have succeeded in convincing the general public that only one opinion exists in the Russian media, dictated by the Kremlin. All information coming from Russia is therefore dismissed a priori as propaganda, and consequently as false. Anyone who understands and speaks Russian knows, of course, that this does not correspond to reality. Nonetheless, information from Russia is generally considered to be untrustworthy, and can therefore hardly be used for research by Western journalists. So where should one go to get additional information?

On January 30, the website Infosperber.ch noted that Mark Episkopos, writing for the (conservative) US political journal The National Interest, had taken a closer look³ at the matter and concluded that Navalny was not in every respect the opposition figure that should be supported by the West, as he had in recent years supported political groups that in no way represented Western values. Given that Mark Episkopos is no friend of Russia, his observations are particularly noteworthy.

Some more examples

The magazine Jacobin recently published a highly interesting and informative analysis: “How a Russian Nationalist Named Alexei Navalny Became a Liberal Hero”,⁴ by the Russian opposition member Alexei Sakhnin. In this article, the left-wing activist stresses that Navalny by no means represents the interests of the vast majority of the Russian population, but is simply fighting for the interests of another “elite”.

So, anyone who wants to find out more about Navalny and his programme keeps looking, and finds, via the website “Natylie's Place: Understanding Russia”, a one-hour home-office conversation⁵ between a US journalist, the above-mentioned Alexei Sakhnin in Moscow and Katya Kazbek, a Russian journalist living in New York, who runs her own interesting website.⁶ Once more, we obtain some interesting new information about Navalny, what his programme actually entails and what interests he represents. (Natylie Baldwin is often worth reading; here is her bio.)⁷ A video of this conversation can be viewed here.⁸

On another platform,9 Katya Kazbek writes:

“It is worth pointing out that the attitude of the vast majority of Russians to the poison attack and its consequences differs significantly from their representation in the Western press, as current surveys show: While Navalny remains opaque for many people and many remain neutral, people are generally more cautious and suspicious of him than they are of the Russian government or even Putin personally. Navalny’s popularity has increased somewhat as a result of the alleged poison attack [...]. But it still lags behind that of Putin and even that of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the far-right LDPR.”

And on another site, she writes:

“At that time, Navalny openly identified himself as a nationalist and took part in nationalist rallies. He started out in the liberal, market-oriented Yabloko party, but was kicked out because of his nationalist views. Then he founded his movement against illegal immigration, “the People”, and recorded blatantly xenophobic videos comparing people from the South Caucasus to tooth cavities and migrants to cockroaches: one of these videos can still be seen on his official YouTube Channel.”¹⁰

And elsewhere:

“Basically, he adapts his policy to what seems opportune, but that does not seem to be of sufficient help to his cause either. He is not Nazi enough for the ultra-right, he is too right for the left, and he frightens some liberals with his pro-gun stance and with his insecure position on Crimea, both of which are important issues for the liberals. He only seems to find full support among those who want to get rid of Putin’s government by all means and do not really care about his views and policies.”

Anyone who is particularly interested in US-Russian relations can find new reports, comments and videos on this topic daily from a wide range of US media, via the platform
usrussiaaccord.com,¹¹ most of which are accessible without a paid subscription.

An Israeli film producer noted something else

Journalists seeking information on a specific geopolitical situation or particular person may often find it helpful to check Israeli sources in order to get a different perspective. Thus, on Haaretz, one can read an article by a filmmaker¹² who wanted to draw an updated portrait of Navalny. Here are some comments from it about Navalny’s personality:

“Despite these pictures, which show Navalny’s human side, the impression of a somewhat Teflon-like character remains, of a man who does not miss an opportunity for a selfie with his followers and admirers, but prefers to be busy with his phone when they tell him about their problems and their hopes. […] This impression of ours probably comes from the fact that he did not allow the film crew to break through the outer layer of the campaign and see him in intimate situations – with his family and friends or in personal moments of reflection. The documentary leaves the audience with the question of whether Navalny’s communication problem does not reflect a deeper, personal problem.”

More information is also available in German

Additional information about Navalny can also be found in German. Thus, via the Anti-Spiegel¹³ website, Thomas Röper, a German who has been living in Russia for years, seeks primarily to combat the totally biased positions of the news magazine “Der Spiegel”, in many cases by reporting how things really were or are. There you can find information about Navalny that hardly features elsewhere in the German-language media: for instance, how he defended himself in court after being sued for defamation by a
94-year-old veteran. Navalny had described him in a video as a “traitor” and a “bootlicker”. The article¹⁴ is also worth reading.

The daily analyses on Navalny and the opposition in Russia by the German platform “German-Foreign-Policy”¹⁵ are also always worth consulting, for example here.¹⁶

And what about information from Russia itself?

And if you finally, despite all doubts, decide to take a look at what the Russian media have to say about Navalny, then there are at least two points – in addition to his cash transfers and calls to demonstrate despite Corona-related bans on public meetings – which are otherwise hardly mentioned. These include information about how Navalny received large sums of money – allegedly from within Russia and abroad – in the form of bitcoins, making it impossible to find out where the money came from. So, can the origin of bitcoin payments not be determined? Infosperber tried to get to the bottom of this by asking a Swiss company active in the field of cryptocurrency as well as the Department of Finance in Bern. Both respondents did not seem very pleased at the media inquiry, but ultimately confirmed that, while it is not allowed to send bitcoins anonymously, for instance from Switzerland, it is technically possible. So why is Navalny being hyped up in the Western media, without anyone asking where he gets his money from? In the US, for example, payments to political parties must be made transparent.

And here is another point that can only be found on Russian platforms: the renowned British medical journal The Lancet¹⁷ gained access to the results of the blood tests made after Navalny arrived at Berlin’s Charité hospital. And what did they show? Doctors at the Charité found no compelling evidence of poisoning. It was only two weeks later that a laboratory of the German Federal Armed Forces – part of NATO – discovered the toxic substance Novichok. Anyone who is acquainted with the methods of intelligence services, for example the CIA,¹⁸ knows that they will pretty much stop at nothing in order to harm an enemy. This gives rise to the question: if we deem the Russian intelligence services capable of wanting to poison Navalny (or at least of trying), is it really so far-fetched to believe that a Western intelligence service might find Novichok, if this “discovery” could hit its arch-enemy particularly hard (in full line with modern hybrid warfare)?

Novichok was developed in Soviet times as a poison for mass murder, but it is not at all suited to individual killings. However, this poison has the “advantage” that, in people’s minds, it is associated solely with Russia, and so a Novichok poisoning automatically points to Russian intervention. (Infosperber also read the report in The Lancet¹⁹ [it is fully accessible only to registered users], and the two-week time lapse between the two blood tests is confirmed there.)

So who is Navalny? What is his programme? And who is he supported by?

There is no short, “true” answer to these questions. But a basic conclusion can be drawn from the information cited above and a wide range of other sources: Navalny is not “the” representative of the opposition, because “the” Russian opposition does not exist. Above all, Navalny wants to gain power for himself. And in so doing, he accepts support from all sides, public and secret, left and right. What he would actually do were he to gain power is completely unknown – and apparently indifferent to most Western governments and media. Most editorial offices do not even try to find out more about him. It seems enough for them to know – and then, of course, to write – that Navalny is opposed to Putin and that he must therefore be supported, even revered, from a Western point of view.

This shows how simplistic current journalism has become. See Andreas Rüesch on the front page of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on February 13.

Journalists have some excuse

In defence of journalists and editors, ever since the drastic drop in advertising revenue for traditional media as a result of internet advertising, many editorial offices have been forced to merge departments and cut staff and therefore costs. Journalists have precious little time left for in-depth research. Only those who are now retired and are willing to do so can afford to engage in this laborious but fascinating task.

Source: www.infosperber.ch, 21/2/2021
(Translation by Swiss Standpoint)

1 https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/russland-wandelt-sich-zur-offenen-diktatur-trotzdem-laeuft-es-fuer-den-kreml-nicht-nach-wunsch-ld.1601439

2 https://www.srf.ch/news/international/russland-auch-in-der-provinz-wird-protestiert-aber-nicht-wegen-nawalny

3 https://www.infosperber.ch/politik/welt/verbindet-sich-der-westen-die-falschen-finger/

4 https://jacobinmag.com/2021/01/alexei-navalny-russia-protests-putin

5 http://natyliesbaldwin.com/2021/02/the-grayzone-discusses-navalny-with-russian-russian-american-leftists/

6 https://www.katyakazbek.com/

7 http://natyliesbaldwin.com/about-2/

8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJX9pmr1I3E&feature=emb_title

9 https://roycekurmelovs.substack.com/p/whoisnavalny

10 https://twitter.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1354052162570117121

11 http://usrussiaaccord.com/