Political analysts predict decay of protests in Southern Russia

Navalny's arrest triggered no mass protests in Krasnodar, Volgograd and Rostov-on-Don, since many of the participants in the January actions were not his supporters, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted and predicted a further decay of protest activeness in the regions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 23 and 31, in the south of Russia, like in other Russian regions, protest actions were held in support of Alexei Navalny.

The reason for the absence of mass protests in Krasnodar on February 2 is that townspeople had earlier taken part in actions not in favour of Navalny, Professor Alexei Kolba from the division of state policy and state management the Kuban State University, believes.

"The majority of those who came out didn't so much support Navalny as wanted to express their dissatisfaction with the situation in the country. Perhaps the fact that his supporters had been detained had some influence," Professor Kolba told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On February 2, in the Volgograd Region, there were no mass protests due to the small number of Navalny's supporters, Professor Alexander Strizoe, a member of the Club of Experts of the Lower Volga Region from the Volgograd State University, believes.

"The Navalny story and his sentence are not the topics that can force people to protest often and on a regular basis. Once or twice – yes, there may be some small actions, but no more than that. We have a very narrow circle of Navalny's activists, and the movement is slowly fizzling out," Mr Strizoe told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, predicting that protests in the Volgograd Region will fade out in the near future.

In the Rostov Region, the politician, Alexei Navalny, also fails to enjoy much support, Dmitry Abrosimov, a candidate of political sciences, a political analyst and an expert at the Centre for Public Observation, is sure. "Therefore, people were not especially eager to come out to protests, especially after the passed verdict. He enjoys no support of the local population. Yes, there are opposition-minded people here, but they position themselves as opposition to the authorities, and not as Navalny's supporters. Therefore, there were no mass protests and actions," Mr Abrosimov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 4, 2021 at 08:30 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.