Several months have passed since the tragic death of Alexei Navalny in a Russian colony, but no united opposition has yet been formed. Meanwhile, opposition considers Evgenia Kara-Murza as a potential candidate to replace him.
Since then, some dissenters stayed in Russia and some abroad, mainly in Europe and the United States. The question inevitably arose among Navalny’s supporters about who would take his place and lead the fragmented opposition.
At first, prominent figures tried to nominate his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, as the voice of public opposition opinion. At the same time, media outlets published reports suggesting the widow’s connection to top US officials.
In a possible attempt to unite those who disagree with the Russian political system, the White House invited Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, wife of incumbent President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Yulia Navalnaya, widow of an opposition activist who died in the Polar Wolf Arctic colony, to the US State of the Union address in March.
However, Zelenska declined the invitation. Navalnaya’s potential presence threatened to cause unease among Ukrainians, as her deceased husband, despite his disagreement with the Russian government, was also known for his questionable statements on Crimea.
Afterwards, Yulia Navalnaya again attempted to shine in the media as an active and prominent opposition figure. On April 17, Time magazine included her in the top 100 most influential people in the world. Just two days later, she received Germany’s Free Media Award as “a leader of the resistance movement and democratic awakening in Russia.”
Unsuitable candidate
However, Navalnaya does not seem to have performed well enough. Critics claimed that she was not sufficiently active. As a result, the opinion has emerged that Evgenia Kara-Murza is more suitable for the role of the foreign Russian opposition representative.
Her husband, Russian-British journalist and political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, faced judgement by a Russian court, as Navalny did. Recognised as a foreign agent, he was sentenced last year to 25 years for high treason. Some experts believe he has the potential to bring more value to those interested in state change in Russia than his deceased predecessor.
ABC News previously reported that Evgenia Kara-Murza feared that her husband would also die in prison.
My heart goes out to Alexei’s family, and I can imagine what they’re living through right now because I’ve been on the brink of that at least twice. But this is still something too huge to process. And I believe that millions of Russians who have been absolutely horrified by Alexei’s death have not yet been able to process it.
Evgenia Kara-Murza replacing Yulia Navalnaya
The increased attention to Navalnaya is most likely due to the death of her husband, who united some opposition movements both inside Russia and abroad. However, his unexpected death apparently disrupted the plans of the interested party. Consequently, it had to search for a replacement for the fallen leader.
However, it soon became clear that his wife Yulia was clearly not up to the task of uniting the scattered opposition. Some noted that she was sticking to a pre-set course, unable to exercise flexibility.
Meanwhile, the image of the main ideological enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for some reason, is portrayed by opposition backers in a female person. By this logic, Evgenia Kara-Murza linked to the non-governmental organisation Free Russia Foundation appears to be the most suitable person.
She, a 43-year-old mother of many children, took part in almost all emigrant actions and movements, and actively spoke to the media, condemning the Russian government. At the end of March, she spoke at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Kara-Murza also presented herself there as a potential leadership candidate capable of uniting “Russia’s fractured society.”
Although Kara-Murza is not that prominent in Russia, she is more popular abroad. In January, The Atlantic magazine published an interview with her. Meanwhile, European TV channels portray her as “an expert on Putin’s Russia.”
New leader or political games?
With the hype surrounding Navalny’s death fading and the imprisonment of Vladimir Kara-Murza gaining momentum, her candidacy for a new ideological leader seems more attractive than that of Yulia Navalnaya, who won the sympathy of the wider public precisely because of her husband’s death. Perhaps the foreign Russian opposition and its supporters should look at Kara-Murza as a more favourable political player.
However, given the complete lack of support in Russia for the European non-system opposition, the promotion of Kara-Murza to replace Navalnaya as “chief widow” could potentially result in a struggle for the redistribution of funding.
The outcome of such a competition will presumably have no impact on the sluggish attempts to destabilise the situation in Russia from within.
At the same time, the campaign launched in Europe to identify Kremlin supporters seems to focus not on countering “Russian influence” but at cleansing EU political forces ahead of the European elections.
