Thanks to the Goethe-Institut Belgium every year three of the most important German Filmfestivals make a stopover in Brussels, one of them DOK Leipzig on June 13th in BOZAR Cinema.

DOK Leipzig is one of the leading festivals for documentary and animated film. The festival, being the first in the world to combine these two genres, is built on more than 60 years of history and tradition. The festival is a celebration of films with the highest artistic and innovative approaches to storytelling, embodying our values of peace, tolerance, human dignity and freedom of expression.

 

Synopsis:

Werner Herzog meeting Mikhail Gorbachev opens a fresh door to some of the most significant happenings of the late 20th Century from nuclear disarmament to the unification of Germany. It also puts into perspective today’s era of populist political leadership. Herzog and Gorbachev meet three times over a six- month period, and although the last President of the Soviet Union is an ailing man, his mind is sharp. His warmth and humour, and Herzog’s ability to tackle unexpected and personal areas of his life, make the encounters engaging, insightful, moving and important.

Directors Statements

Werner Herzog

Meeting Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev three times over a six-month period was a fascinating and enlightening experience. I was anxious not to film a biography of him but to try to understand the character of such an important figure. Here was a man who changed the course of the twentieth century and whose actions transformed the world I grew up in; yet in Moscow, I found a somewhat tragic and lonely figure, surrounded by people who blamed him for the loss of the Soviet Union and for not fulfilling the promises of perestroika and glasnost that he had hoped would improve their lives. Our conversations were frank, and wide-ranging, from his anger over the lack of progress over nuclear arms reduction that he had initiated with Ronald Reagan to personal tragedies such as the loss of his beloved wife Raisa in 1999. Although Mikhail Sergeyevich was not a physically well man, his intelligence, charisma and sense of purpose were still sharp and illuminating and it was a pleasure to have been able to meet such a charismatic, genuine and significant giant of the 20th century.

André Singer:

When agreeing with MDR (the German ARD Channel) to make a film about the last President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, the filmmaker in me asked how we could create a narrative that was engaging, unique and attractive to a new generation who had little experience or knowledge of the ‘Gorbachev Years’ and the Cold War? Having collaborated with Werner Herzog over a thirty year period, I thought that his inimitable insights might provide the key. I was therefore delighted when he agreed to participate, co-direct and conduct the interviews with the ailing ex-Soviet leader. It worked wonderfully. There was a great bond between the two men and Werner was able to ask questions other interviewers would not have dreamt of. “What would you like inscribed on your gravestone?” He asked. “ We tried”, Gorbachev replied. “I am a German, and the first German you met you probably wanted to shoot” Werner says referring to the hatred between Russia and Germany stemming from World War 11.

“NO” said Gorbachev, and relayed how as a boy nearby Germans made wonderful biscuits in the shape of rabbits that made the young Gorbachev really like Germans!! We made a film that was deliberately not a stereotype history documentary. Instead of detailing all the events of the 1980s and 90s we followed the personal story seen through Gorbachev’s eyes enabling us to expose the humanity behind political characters that shaped the end of the Cold War, the unification of Germany and the attempts to end nuclear proliferation.

Eventually Gorbachev failed in his attempts to fully reform the old Soviet Union, but the contrast between what is happening in the world now and what he was confronting in the 1980s is dramatic. Whilst making the film we were moved by the loneliness of the man who tackled the impossible and is regarded today by many Russians as the person responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Empire. He is now an ailing 87 year old figure living in isolation in Moscow but still has lessons he wants to give the world and which he relayed to Werner in his interview – particularly about the dangers of nuclear weaponry which he sees with alarm going in the opposite direction to what he and Ronald Reagan fought for thirty years ago. We both felt this was a man still worth listening to and we were privileged to hear his insights and to be able to share them in this film.

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Diplomats have been warned about some places in the European quarter in Brussels, including a restaurant and a famous cafe in the direct vicinity of the European Commission building and the EEAS.

The Chinese and Russian secret services are believed to work in Brussels, according to the German newspaper, especially in the embassies and commercial services of their country having a representation in the Belgian capital.

The details on agents from other non-European countries, such as the United States, are not mentioned in the report.

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« Russian Turn Kino sessions propose to explore rich and uncompromising world of independent Russian cinema with its paradoxes and contradictions. The first series of three piercing films shed light on the human condition and into the struggle of people that choose to follow individual heart athwart their family, multi-ethnic community or the state,’’ said the organisers.

Serdtse mira (Core of the World) – Nataliya Meshchaninova

Introduction by film expert and critic Anzhelika Artukh, a specialist on cine-feminism in Russia.

Russia today. Egor is a 25-year-old veterinarian on a rural farm which doubles as a hunting-dog special training center using domesticated foxes. Egor is a grown man, but deep inside he is a child and it’s easier for him to get along with animals than with people. In desperate need of a controlled environment after a violent past relationship with his mother, all he wants is to care for the animals and to feel part of the close-knit family he works for. When animal rights activists invade this fragile microcosm, throwing off its delicate balance, Egor’s world begins to crumble.

Dovlatov – Alexey German Jr.

Introduction and Q&A by Denis Akhapkin, associate professor at the Faculty of liberal art and sciences at Smolny (St. Petersburg State University), specialized in modern Russian literature.

Dovlatov charts six days in the life of the brilliant, ironic writer Sergei Dovlatov who saw far beyond the rigid limits of 70s Soviet Russia. Together with his friend and poet Joseph, he fought to preserve his own talent and integrity while seeing their artist friends getting crushed by the iron-willed state machinery, which they would later escape by emigrating to New York, losing all they had back home.

Tesnota (Closeness) – Kantemir Balagov

Introduction and Q&A by Joël Chapron, Russian film specialist and an actress Olga Dragunova.

Nalchik, 1998, North Caucasus, Russia. The film follows Ilana, a young woman of Jewish heritage. She is a tomboy who works on cars in her father’s garage, and has little interest in the traditions and religious precepts that her parents adhere to. She is even in a clandestine relationship with a gentile. When Ilana’s brother and his fiancée are kidnapped, her parents have no option but to marry Ilana off to a timid Jew whose family will pay the ransom in return. It comes as no surprise that Ilana is everything but enthusiastic.

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It makes for an appropriate setting for what are prestigious performances.Swan Lakes is one the most popular of all romantic ballets worldwide and it is hard to imagine that when the first show took place on February 20, 1877 it was a flop.

More than a century after its creation, Swan Lake is probably the world’s best-known ballet, set to Tchaikovsky’s sublime score.The flawless production has been rightly lauded as a stunning demonstration of the precision, artistry and sheer grace for which Moscow City Ballet is renowned throughout the world.

Audiences around the globe have be moved by this fable which follows the fate of Prince Siegfried and he falls in love with the beautiful Swan Queen, Odette. The story takes us to a romantic and imaginary universe where Siegfried falls in love with a swan, nothing less than a princess being a victim of sorcery. During daytime a swan, at night a woman, destined to live like this until the day the sorcery will be broken.

The ballet’s soaring climax sees the power of true love conquer the forces of evil. One of the most performed ballets in the world, Swan Lake was composed in 1876 by Tchaikovsky though it was only in 1895 with the premiere in St. Petersburg when the ballet, danced on a choreography of Marius Petipa, became a huge success.

Petipa, born in Marseilles, went to St. Petersburg in 1847 and ruled over the Russian dance for more than 50 years. He could not have imagined that after his death his ballets would be danced all over the world. Despite the changing musical and dancing fashions, the performance of the parts of Odette and Odile in Swan Lake are still considered a touchstone for the mettle of any serious dancer.

Swan Lake is arguably the jewel of the classical repertoires composed by the legendary Russian composer but Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker is another classic, of course. Originally a Christmas tale, based on the fantasy of Hoffmann and revisited by Alexander Dumas, the Nutcracker was the choreography of Marius Petipa who decided to create a fairy-like ballet, in which reality and fantasy are mixed, danced to delightful music.

The ballet had is public première on 17 December 1892 at the Marynski Theatre in Saint-Petersburg. To remind you: the story begins on Christmas Eve. A little girl, Clara, receives a present of a nutcracker, which is destroyed by the other children. That night Clara awakes, entering a strange and fairly-like world, guided by her nutcracker.

With its Christmas theme, the story is particularly appropriate for this time of year. Both Swan Lake and the Nutcracker will be performed over the weekend and, as tickets are selling fast, Belgian ballet fans are advised to move quickly if they want to catch the show while it is here.

Those who cannot make it should not despair as Moscow City Ballet is back in Brussels for more performances in February of Romeo and Juliette, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.

The Moscow City Ballet itself has a fascinating history: it was founded in 1988 by the distinguished Russian choreographer Victor Smirnov-Golovanov, a former soloist of the Bolshoi Ballet, with the aim to promote the original ideas of the great 19th and 20th century Russian choreographer.

The Company’s success, both at home and abroad, makes it one of Russia’s most extensively touring ballet companies. Considering classical ballet to be an important part of the national heritage of Russia, Smirnov-Golovanov’s aim was to bring it to as wide a public as possible, especially the new generation of ballet-going youngsters.

Moscow City Ballet is renowned for the perfection of its corps de ballet in the best traditions of the Russian school of classical ballet. This is thanks, in part, to the unceasing efforts, both in production and rehearsal by Smirnov-Golovanov and his wife.

Smirnov-Golovanov’s own productions, as well as older versions of the classical ballets, all share a clearly defined style, ideas and choreographic integrity, setting high-performance standards.

The Company of more than 50 dancers is drawn from graduates of all the finest choreographic academies and school in Russia and Ukraine, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm, Kiev, Novosibirsk, Alma-Ata, Baku, Erevan, Donetsk, Kharkov and Ufa, as well as inviting soloists from abroad as guest artists.

These timeless and well-known performances with their costumes, music, and fantastic stories and flawless choreography have come to be admired as the pinnacle of Russian ballet, a perfect chance for many famous dancers to showcase their art.

But, considering classical ballet to be an important part of the national heritage of Russia, Moscow City Ballet aims to bring it to as wide a public as possible, especially the new generation of ballet-going youngsters. The small and intimate Theatre Palais 12, located close to the Heysel, makes a great venue to host this weekend’s spectacles. An indoor arena built in 1989 it has been redesigned and reopened in its current form in 2013.

The show producer is Ballets.be, the leading private company producing and promoting international dance spectacles in Belgium since 1991.

A spokesman said, « Ballets is a passionate production company, with the ambition to bring together the expectations of the public and the requirements of top international artists. Every production of Ballets is a unique moment for the spectator as well as a unique experience for the artist. »

Both Swan Lake and the Nutcracker are magical stories everybody has heard about but seldom has had a chance to see performed on stage. Now’s your chance to put that right. Further info, including ticket details, is available here

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He is also currently favoured to head the organisation following the upcoming elections to the office to be held on November 3rd in Moscow.

The International Olympic Committee  (IOC) is said to strongly oppose such an outcome. Russia, however, is clearly backing his candidacy to the point of seeking to exclude all other candidates for the post.

Gafur Rakhimov, (who is believed to be known in the criminal underworld of post-soviet countries as Gafur Cherny), is alleged to be a ‘former’ member of the criminal organisation known as The Brothers’ Circle, named in a 2012 report by the US Department of The Treasury as “a criminal group composed of leaders and senior members of several Eurasian criminal groups that are largely based in countries of the former Soviet Union, but also operate in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The Brothers’ Circle serves as a coordinating body for several criminal networks, mediates disputes between the individual criminal networks, and directs members criminal activity globally.”

It should be pointed out that Rakhimov denies all the charges against him.

This would place him alongside such key figures in the Eurasian underworld as Zakhar Kalashov, who has extensive connections to criminal groups in Russia and countries throughout Eurasia. According to law enforcement authorities, his criminal activities include money laundering, extortion, criminal protection, and trafficking in both arms and drugs.

Kalashov was named as recently as December 28th 2017 in a notice by the Foreign Assets Control Office (OFAC) of the US Government concerning “persons that have been placed on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List based on OFAC’s determination that one or more applicable legal criteria were satisfied”. 

All property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction of such persons are blocked, and US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

On the basis of these allegations, Rakhimov was forbidden to attend the Youth Olympic Games, which began in Buenos Aires on October 6th.

Writing to all 203 AIBA National Federations, IOC director general Christophe de Kepper said: « Independent oversight of the refereeing and judging of the Games here has also been required by the International Olympic Committee following the scandal involving the officials who oversaw the boxing event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.” 

De Kepper continued, « We believe it is important to communicate this directly to all National Federations in order for you to have a clear understanding of the serious ongoing concerns of the IOC Executive Board and avoid any misunderstandings regarding these concerns.”

A letter to Rakhimov from the Head of the IOC Ethics Committee, Pâquerette Girard Zappelli, has appeared in the media in which Zapppelli says that in the interest of boxing, only “absolutely clean” applicants should stand as candidates.

 

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{05/10/13} Without you this journey wouldn’t be possible.. Thanks for showing love since my pro debut 🔥 #AJBXNG

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The IOC stressed that “the very existence of boxing as an Olympic sport and even the recognition of the AIBA are under threat” if “the questions posed are not properly resolved at the upcoming AIBA congress.”

The IOC has « maintained its freeze on all contacts with AIBA except at a working level », and a crisis of governance has now put boxing’s place on the Olympic programme at Tokyo 2020 in serious jeopardy.

« Independent oversight of the refereeing and judging » of the Games here has also been required by the IOC following the scandal involving the officials who oversaw the boxing event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

« We believe it is important to communicate this directly to all National Federations in order for you to have a clear understanding of the serious ongoing concerns of the IOC Executive Board and avoid any misunderstandings regarding these concerns,«  De Kepper wrote.

Amidst all of this, the General Secretary of the Russian Boxing Federation, Umar Kremlev, has urged the IOC not to intervene in the election of the leadership of the AIBA.

Russia, a country known for its officially sanctioned high levels of corruption within sport, recently fielded its Heavyweight Champion Alexander Povetkin, a truly great fighter in his day, but who was discredited after having failed two drugs tests, against World Heavyweight champion, British fighter Anthony Joshua. Joshua, having sized up his opponent in the opening rounds, annihilated the Russian cheat in the opening moments of the 7th round.

We can only hope that the cheats, and the corrupt officials who seek control of this sport, are dispatched from the ring in similar fashion.

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While everyone got upset about Russian attempts to annex Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, and South Ossetia (from Georgia), no-one is talking about Moscow’s gradual absorption of Armenia. Russia’s military assistance to Armenia has included the deployment of Iskander-M missiles. That puts western allies Turkey and Azerbaijan well within range. But Israel is in range too. And Russia’s cozy ties to Iran and Syria pose serious risks for another western ally, Saudi Arabia.

This ‘alters the balance’: Here we have Russia busy consolidating its influence in the Middle East, through its long-standing friendship with Iran and its support of the Syrian government. In recent days there has even been talk of Iran joining the Russian-dominated Eurasian Economic Union, creating a potential end run around western sanctions. The annexation of Crimea returned to Moscow unchallenged control of a warm water port enhancing naval strategic access to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Armenia is landlocked, so there’s no naval play there, but look who Armenia’s neighbours are: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and of course Iran.

In fact, despite having declared its independence in 1991, along with many other Soviet provinces, little Armenia (population: 3 million) has never really broken free from its dependence on Moscow. But these days it’s not even trying. Step by step it’s becoming a Russian satellite.

Russia has made serious inroads. A founding member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, NATO’s Russian-sponsored rival, the Armenian military is being heavily funded and supplied by Moscow. Armenia’s often violent dispute with Azerbaijan has seen extensive direct Russian involvement including training of the pro-Armenian forces by the Russian military.

In that war, Armenia succeeded in prying away from the pro-Western nation of Azerbaijan the region known as Nagorno-Karabakh which has a majority Armenian population. Under guidance from Armenia and Russia, the region formed itself into a separatist enclave similar to Crimea and Georgian lands now under Moscow’s rule, and has followed Armenia’s pro-Russian line.

Despite this, Armenia enjoys western support. Heavily lobbied by Armenian diaspora groups, some US politicians have aligned themselves with Armenian causes. In September, a Congressional delegation even visited the separatist region, over the objections of the US State Department and in the face of US refusal to recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as anything other than territory taken by force from neighbouring Azerbaijan.

One of the more outspoken members of the group was Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard who, with a member of lobbying group Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) at her side, declared: “The resilience and courage I witnessed in the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh region who remain in an ongoing conflict over their independence, further demonstrates our shared values of freedom, democracy, and self-determination.” Gabbard is of course widely known for her visit to Syria and voicing pro-Assad sentiments. No UN member country, including Armenia itself, has ever recognised Nagorno Karabakh’s legitimacy. But prompted by ANCA’s persistent lobbying, eight American states have done so – despite the obvious grievances of western defence ally Azerbaijan and despite strong evidence of Russian military trainers assisting the province’s rebel forces and increasing Russian assistance to Armenia itself.

Likely, only the half million Armenians in the U.S. are following these developments with much interest. But Armenia was under the hegemony of Moscow throughout the twentieth century as part of the Soviet Union and now it appears to be headed that way again. Moreover, Armenian-Americans should be concerned that ANCA has become a conduit for Russian money and influence. The fact that Armenia’s consul general in Los Angeles, the main fund-raising base for ANCA, is a Russian citizen and a Putin-connected oligarch with businesses worth billions in Russia speaks for itself. No wonder ANCA follows Moscow’s line of disrupting U.S. strategic efforts in Eurasia. For every Armenian-American, this should be of deep concern.

The question of whether the Armenian lobby is influencing official US policy remains to be seen. There were few clues recently while the president of Nagorno-Karabakh, which the Armenians call Artsakh, was in the US. This was Bako Sahakyan’s first visit to Washington as leader. In years past, Artsakh leaders have been wined and dined on Capitol Hill but officially ignored by the White House. The pattern appears to have been repeated this time, allowing US State department officers responsible to breathe a sigh of relief. But ANCA and its Congressional supporters are nothing if not persistent. European observers have come to understand, US foreign policy can change unpredictably, with a single presidential tweet.

Russia’s game here is to dominate the Caucasus region bringing it closer to its key regional allies, Iran and Syria. Should the Caucasus fall entirely under Russian control, it would mean de facto domination of the upper Middle East and pose a grave threat to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But Americans are distracted and the Trump Administration appears distracted. Moscow, adept at filling such vacuums, is eager to build up its power in the region and Armenia is ripe for its picking.

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Together with Nikolay Oleynikov, he founded the band Arkady Kots, and they are among the most outspoken of left-wing activists and artists in contemporary Russia.

Asked if he was comfortable defining himself as a communist in the light of Russia’s past, Medvedev said that it was only as problematic to be a communist as it was to be European or Christian. All belief and all political systems have some violent or oppressive history. What he wants, through his art, is to reclaim the original ideal of communism: equality between people. Looking at the oligarchical state of Russia and at the increasing inequality under Western capitalism, that ideal still needs to be fought for.

As well as writing his own poems and music, Medvedev runs a publishing house and has translated important left-wing writers like Pier Paolo Pasolini into Russian. Spreading ideas through art is as important as direct political action, he said. It is a risky thing to do, as Russia under Putin is increasingly repressive towards dissenting artists.

In 2012, members of the punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to years in prison after they performed an anti-Putin song. When Arkady Kots went to support Pussy Riot at their trial, they were arrested as soon as they started singing. Earlier this year, five antifascist and anarchist activists disappeared and then surfaced in police custody, where they said they were tortured. Medvedev and Oleynikov dedicated one of the songs they performed at Bozar to those activists of the “Penza Case”, who are still imprisoned.

“There’s nothing beautiful in the future,” Medvedev said, reflecting on the fact that Putin is likely to win again in rigged elections this Sunday. But that is precisely why he and his “comrades” insist on staying in their country and will keep up their activism until it is a decent place to live for the majority of fair-minded Russians.

Oleynikov said that fifteen years ago (not coincidentally, the time when Putin was in his first term as President), people in Russia saw art and politics as diametrically separate. That is changing. Oleynikov and Medvedev insist that they are not propagandists and believe in the true value of art, but they are also subjects in a political situation that cannot be ignored.

So, what about the elections on Sunday? Medvedev and Oleynikov will not vote, since the system is a sham, but they say that what happens will nevertheless be important – for all of us. In fact, Europe is facing many of the same problems as Russia: the rise of far-right nationalism and the capturing of political and economic power by the richest elite.

The shared fate of Russia and Europe is explored in Bozar’s series Russian Turn, which has here shown the activity and energy of dissent in Russia today.

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So it came as a terrible blow to Russia’s national prestige that in the run up to the World Cup draw, on 5th December the Executive of the International Olympic Committee published a decision to withdraw medals awarded to Russian athletes in Sochi, and suspend Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics due to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February.

Vitaly Mutko the former Russian Minister of Sport, and President of the Russian Football Union was suspended for life, the Russian Olympic Committee and its head Alexander Zhukov were temporarily disqualified, and Dmitry Chernyshenko, who headed the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, lost his seat in the coordinating committee for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

The blame for this catastrophic blow to Russian national sporting pride lies fairly and squarely at the feet of Vitaly Mutko, whose support team badly miscalculated the gravity of the situation, failed to take proper legal advice on the doping allegations in the reports from WADA, and totally underestimated the power of media coverage from the German TV Channel ARD, the New York Times and others.

This misreading of the situation might have been called “hybris” in a Greek Tragedy, but the catastrophic outcome has been that many innocent athletes in Russia are the victims of fallout from the sanctions, alongside the guilty ones directly targeted by the punishment who broke the rules on using banned substances to unfairly enhance performance.

A nation with such a proud heritage of international sports competition must now tackle the issue of a tarnished image in the run-up to next year’s football world cup competition, and it now has the opportunity to recover national pride. However, there will need to be a clean sweep of the politicians and officials involved in the administration of national sport to succeed in turning the situation around following Mutko’s calamitous disaster.

On 18 March 2018, elections for the next Russian President for a term of 6 years are due to be held. Vladimir Putin is running as an independent candidate for a record fourth term of six more years, and is widely expected to win.

But, in order to address the problems facing the country’s image in the international sporting arena, he will need a new Prime Minister with a strong administrative team capable of restoring improved relations with the EU and the international sporting community. The prize of a successful football world cup in Russia next June is potentially so great, that Russia cannot afford to miss out on the opportunity of such a public relations prize. This is after all the first time that the world cup has ever been staged in Russia, ever since football was first introduced into Russia by a British businessman staging the first football match on Russian soil in the 19th century. Over the years, the Russian national team has distinguished themselves as one of the world’s leading forces in world football, and although they start the 2018 World Cup with the boost of home turf advantage, they have the unwelcome misfortune that their sportsmanship is under a cloud, due to the winter Olympics scandal.

Some international observers suggest that Dmitry Rogozin is the best candidate to improve Russia troubled relations with international sporting organisations and restore Russia’s outlook in international sport. He has been tipped as a leading contender for the post of Prime Minister to head the next government administration under Vladimir Putin; he is currently the serving Deputy Prime Minister responsible for defence and the space industry.

Other potential candidates for the Prime Minister post include Alexei Kudrin, a former Finance Minister, Denis Manturov, the Minister of Industry of the Russian Federation and Sergey Kiriyenko, a former Prime Minister under Boris Yeltsin. It is too early to speculate on this as hte appointment is three months’ away.

But whoever is appointed to take on this task for Russia, a key priority will be restoring prestige in the international sporting arena, and improving relations with the European Union, for whose politicians the “beautiful game” has a special place in their hearts, as it is always an important opportunity for them to woo their electorate.

Whoever succeeds to rebuild the damaged bridges in Russia’s place in world sport will win massive popularity at home, help to restore national pride, and maybe even develop a platform for improving relations with his European counterparts.

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According to the Levada Centre the support for Putin, or « Putin‘s Team«  as they call it, includes citizens from all layers of Russian society, and of all ages.

Recently, Navalny, the 41 year-old anti-corruption lawyer, and Russia‘s most popular opposition leader, was charged by the Russian government of « organising « unsanctioned public rallies » and sentenced to 20 days imprisonment.

Despite his conviction, Navalny encouraged his supporters to call upon the Kremlin to allow fair and free electoral competition ahead of next year‘s presidential elections in Russia.

Russian citizens will vote for their new President in March 2018 but the National Election Committee has declared that Navalny has been convicted of fraud and should therefore be debarred from running for election.

The Committee‘s ruling resulted in mass protests on Russian streets on 7 October, timed by the organisers to coincide with the birthday of President Putin.

More than 1,000 activists rallied in Saint Petersburg, the home city of the President, waving red and white banners and shouting « Putin is a thief«  and « Free Navalny« . Following these anti-Kremlin protests, the police detained more than 260 activists.

But despite the popular protests, the Levada Centre continues to assert that President Putin still enjoys widespread popular support. 

According to the latest poll by the Levada Centre, which is the largest and most respected polling centre in the Russian Federation, some 68% of Russian citizens are likely to support President Putin in the next presidential vote. 

The poll was based on a survey of 1,600 respondents, chosen from different cities of the Russian Federation. This is a relatively small sample on which to base such assertions, but the findings are still broadly in line with the historical approval ratings of President Putin with Russia‘s conservative electorate.

The published results of the poll show Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as the second most popular leader with 8% support, the leaders of the LDPR and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Gennady Zyuganov with 2%, but only 1% for Navalny which is scarcely credible given the high numbers that have come out to protest at his rallies. Either the poll samples do not reflect the demographic changes taking place in Russian society, or respondents to political polls in Russia are behaving like Western voters, and keeping their thoughts privately to themselves when questioned by pollsters.

Another finding of the survey was that 55% of the respondents would remain undecided in case Vladimir Putin was not a candidate. This kind of response whilst typical of conservative Russian society, which rarely favours change, could also be indicative of an electorate that is reluctant to say anything that could be interpreted as undermining the President in power for fear of political retribution.

According to the findings of the poll, President Putin enjoys deep and widespread support across all regions of the country, and spanning all age groups.

The heartlands of « Putin‘s Team » are outside major urban centres in the country areas, with the most conservative of Russian citizens. Historically these are the people attracted by his strong leadership style and « tough guy » image.

But across all layers of Russian society he commands support from students, businessmen and pensioners, who tend to trust that the élite of the country is acting in the national interest. Putin‘s PR team tried to illustrate the diversity of his support base in the media coverage of his birthday celebrations, and to give the impression that the birthday well wishers outnumbered the activists protesting on the streets.

But despite all of the PR razzmatazz from the Kremlin it is actually a fact that Russian citizens from all layers of society and class – teachers, firemen, lawyers, doctors and policemen – are vocal in expressing genuine support for Mr Putin. 

Even if Navalny can overcome the clumsy State efforts to prevent him from running for President, the Russian opposition will still face a huge challenge and a tough campaign to win hearts and minds in order to rally public support away from an incumbent leadership so deeply entrenched in power, and with all of the weight of the apparatus of the Russian Federation to call upon to remain in office.

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During their last years of office these deputies visited Crimea twice, in breach of French national and United Nations policy, and they made pro-Russian public relations statements to demonstrate their solidarity with Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea, speaking out in favour of removing sanctions against Russia.

But elections are great levellers, and it is not surprising that French voters failed to be impressed by the fact that these politicians spent their time on foreign ventures rather than representing the local interests of their own constituents. So they rightly exercised their democratic privilege to vote them out of office.

But before the dust has settled from these political changes, Russia is already recruiting replacements to support their propaganda initiatives in France. The latest ciphers to join their ranks are local government politicians from Bouches-du-Rhône county in southern France, who travelled to Donetsk via Moscow and Rostov-on-Don last June at the invitation of Russia.

According to the regional newspaper “Le Provence” the politicians include Christian Borelli, a municipal councillor from Vitrolles; Christiane Pujol, a departmental councillor from Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur province; and Hubert Fayard, municipal councillor in Coudoux. Their mission has violated Ukraine’s legislation by virtue of the fact that they entered Donetsk oblast by road from Russia and not from Ukraine. Apparently the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not aware of their visit.

What is interesting about the trip is not the fact that the Kremlin has recruited fresh ciphers to peddle their propaganda line in France, but that the new recruits should be of little influence compared with their predecessors, and that their mission bears absolutely no relevance to their electoral mandate at home. The local government politicians do not have the same representative status as Thierry Mariani who was the co-chair of the NGO « French-Russian Dialogue Association, » an organisation committed to « strengthening strategic relations » between both countries.

Could this be a sign that it has become more difficult for Russia to recruit support for the Kremlin’s line in French political circles under the new government of President Macron?

Whatever the reason, the Bouche-du-Rhône councillors will find it difficult to explain to their local voters back home what could possibly have been the relevance of their jaunt to Moscow and Donetsk to their their regional responsibilities to manage the municipal administration of Provence.

Their predecessors, the national politicians Mariani, Bouchet, Dhuicq and others, committed similar errors of judgement, and their careers came to an abrupt end. The pointless expedition of the Provence councillors may similarly prove to be limiting for their own future careers. Within days of the local French politicians’ departure from Donetsk, renewed fierce hostilities across the line of conflict flared up with the deadly shelling of Ukrainian military positions and civilians by the Russian troops invading Ukraine. The timing of the councillors’ visit could hardly have been worse.

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