MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech to Russians on Wednesday, while supporters of his fiercest critic, Alexei Navalny, plan nationwide protests over the deterioration of his prison health.
Putin, who intends to never say Navalny’s name, said his speech to both chambers of parliament would focus on projects to boost growth, which has been hit by external sanctions, low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic. .
But as they begin their speech at noon (09:00 GMT), protesters in the eastern port of Vladivostok will take to the streets in the first wave of protests across Russia in support of Navalny, 44. years, severely weakened by a three-week hunger strike.
Both sides are ready for a confrontation. Previous rallies in support of Navalny have been forcibly split into thousands of arrests, and authorities have said Wednesday’s rallies will be illegal.
The process of force will be closely watched abroad, at a time of deep crisis in Russia’s relations with the West for Navalny treatment, a major build-up of troops on the Ukrainian border and a rash of other problems that have led Washington to impose new sanctions against Moscow last week and the Kremlin to respond in kind.
Navalny, who survived a poisoning with nerve agents last year that Russia denies, was sentenced in February to 2-1 / 2 years for conditional violations related to a case of embezzlement that he says was politically motivated.
He went on hunger strike on March 31 for what he said was the refusal of prison authorities to provide him with adequate treatment for acute leg and back pain. Officials say he received normal medical care, just like any other convict.
Navalny’s supporters have called for what he hopes will be the biggest protests in modern Russian history, saying his life is hanging by a thread and demanding proper medical care.
On the eve of the protests, the OVD-Info monitoring group reported police raids on Navalny’s regional offices in Krasnodar and Kurgan and arrests of individual activists in about a dozen cities. Navalny’s team said the protests would take place in more than 100 cities.
The venue for Putin’s address, the Manege exhibition hall adjacent to the Kremlin, is on the square that Navalny’s allies designated as the location of their rally in Moscow on Wednesday night.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Grant McCool)