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Alexei Navalny

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Politician

The Resume

    (June 4, 1976-February 16, 2024)
    Born in Butyn, Russia
    Russian opposition leader
    Founding member of the Anti-Corruption Foundation
    Headed the political party Russia of the Future (2013- )
    Ran for mayor of Moscow, finishing second (2013)
    Twice convicted in embezzlement cases and received a 3-1/2 year suspended sentence (2013-14)
    Attempted to run for President of Russia (2018), but was barred by the Central Electoral Commission based on his convictions
    Has six million YouTube subscribers and two million Twitter followers
    Sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment in a corrective labor camp for violating conditions of his suspended sentence (February 2, 2021)

Why he might be annoying:

    He declared political parties to be an ‘outdated’ concept a year before becoming the head of a political party.
    Although he admitted that the Russian seizure of the Crimea was an ‘egregious violation’ of international law, he insisted that the Crimea ‘will remain part of Russia and will never again in the foreseeable future become part of Ukraine.’
    Amnesty International rescinded their designation of him as a ‘prisoner of conscience,’ saying statements he made calling for Georgians to be expelled from Russia and likening immigrants to cockroaches constituted hate speech. (Although the organization continued to call for his immediate release from prison, as he was being persecuted for political reasons.)

Why he might not be annoying:

    The Wall Street Journal called him ‘the man Vladimir Putin fears the most.’
    Putin refuses to refer to him by name.
    The European Court of Human Rights ruled that his right to a fair trial had been violated in his embezzlement cases.
    In the second embezzlement case, the alleged victim, French cosmetics firm Yves Rocher, denied that there had been any money lost.
    He has been repeatedly arrested and jailed for leading unauthorized protests.
    He was attacked outside the offices of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and sprayed with a green dye mixed with caustic chemicals (April 27, 2017).
    He suffered chemical burns and lost 80% of the sight in right eye.
    He was poisoned with Novichok, a Russian nerve agent (August 20, 2020), probably by the Federal Security Bureau (the Russian successor to the Soviet KGB).
    Among the violations of his suspended sentence cited in court was his failure to report regularly to Russian police – at a time when he was in a coma from being poisoned.
    Mass protests supporting him were held across Russia (January 23, 2021).
    The European Union and United States imposed sanctions on Russian officials in response to his poisoning and imprisonment.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 162 Votes: 48.15% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 19 Votes: 78.95% Annoying