On February 3rd, an influx of young Russians flooded my Instagram inbox and follower list. Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, had just reposted my recent Instagram story: a photo of Navalny in court, raising his hands to form the shape of a heart that had made the cover from The Wall Street Journal
My family emigrated from Russia to the US in the 1990s, when I was 13 years old, but I couldn’t remember meeting Russian teenagers and young people like her before: an entire generation growing up under the regime of Putin. On their social media pages on Instagram and TikTok, they come across as purposeful, daring and creative. They made political videos on TikTok and Instagram. Some of them identified as feminists, vegan activists, dancers, musicians and aspiring lawyers. They seemed to be marching to the beat of a different drum and shared a set of universal values that differed from those of their parents and grandparents. It was as if they were visitors from another planet.
When Navalny flew back to Moscow on January 17 and was quickly detained, his team was able to mobilize thousands of people in cities across Russia’s 11 time zones. After the Russian court sentenced Navalny to two and a half years in prison, his supporters continued to protest in the streets. Videos shared on social media showed teenagers tearing up Putin’s portraits in schools and replacing them with photos of Navalny.
On February 14, Valentine’s Day, Navalny’s team ran a campaign they called “Love is stronger than fear,” inspired by Navalny’s gesture towards his wife in court. “We are calling on all residents of major Russian cities to do something simple at 8pm on February 14,” the Navalny team wrote. “Go outside and turn on your phone flash, lift it up and stand there for a few minutes.”
There were several protests on Sunday, mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where several hundred women gathered in solidarity with Navalny’s wife Yulia, according to AFP. Separately, “tens of thousands” of people responded to Navalny’s call for the Valentine’s Day campaign, braving winter temperatures and going out with flashlights for symbolic vigil in “hundreds of courtyards” across the country, according to estimates from Navalny’s team
This time, the turnout was smaller and more peaceful, without the violent clashes with police and mass detentions that characterized the pro-Navalny protests last month. Instead, the government’s response went behind the scenes, aimed at pressuring social media platforms and taking action against those who suggest they are even considering taking to the streets. Immediately after the Valentine’s Day events, there were reports of retaliation against those who took part in the campaign, including a COVID-19 nurse, Saidanvar Sulaimonov, who was fired after participating in the ‘Love is stronger than fear’ campaign and a photo had made herself indoors with protective gear, Meduza reported.
Even before Sunday’s events, many young people were skeptical of the long-term impact of this new wave of protests. Aram Badalyam, a 25-year-old indie folk musician from Krasnodar, southern Russia – the region where Putin’s alleged palace is located – has called the protests ‘toothless’. Navalny’s research and the eruption of political activism he saw in the country and in Krasnodar inspired him to write a song about the palace. “Navalny speaks their language,” he says of the new generation of supporters. “He is persistent, courageous and brave. Courage is a rarity in Russia. “
This is the kind of grassroots mobilization that sets Navalny apart from other opposition leaders and allows him to connect with this new generation through social media, as in this TikTok video showing his research into his own poisoning. From providing copies of flyers to hang on a Google Drive near them, to continuing to post research videos even when Navalny is in prison – his team is teaching this new generation a new methodology of protesting and political activism.
“Offering Navalny’s tools, protests for examples, where other opposition members can appear and unite for common causes,” said 23-year-old Nikolai from St. Petersburg, speaking to The Daily Beast under a pseudonym. “For me, Navalny is also about the people he has gathered around him, people who are fighting the system and helping others.”
Navalny’s anti-corruption activities have informed this new generation not only about the state of affairs in their country, but also how to fight corruption in the existing system. It showed them what works. “I trust Navalny because he puts forward arguments and facts,” said Catherine Shipilova, 17, an aspiring lawyer who is counting the months until she officially “comes of age” in Russia. “I plan to study law, I would like to help people,” she says. “I love Russia, but I am against our current government.”
In an interview with Russian radio platform Echo Moskvy, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian oil magnate who was himself imprisoned for ten years, noted that Putin’s response to Navalny’s latest investigation into the presumed palace of the president showed that there is a rift between the ruling regime and this New Generation. This nearly two-hour investigation into an imperial-style palace in southern Russia received more than 112 million views within a month. Putin has dismissed the video as boring, calling it a ‘montage’ and claiming that ‘nothing listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives and never did’. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov continued to deny any ownership.
Khodorkovsky called Putin’s response to the viral video more shocking than the investigation itself. “It’s a joke,” he said. “It is normal for the young generation to want something different. The government can listen to them. But for that you need institutions in which you draw up rules, and the young people live their lives within the framework. But our government does not want to set up frameworks. They want to rule everything to stay in power. “
A Levada Center poll found that a quarter of Russians had seen the video of the palace, and that younger people, between the ages of 18 and 24, absorbed it the most. According to the poll, 37 percent of the younger age group had seen it, more than any other group.
Putin’s first public response to Navalny’s viral investigation into Putin’s reported palace in southern Russia was widely derided on social media. A TikTok video showed Putin speaking from a deep purple ‘hookah’ room that showed a metal pole in the center of the room, explaining that there were no documents linking him to the palace.
The Kremlin’s response included a series of denials of connections to the palace, heavy-handed mass detention and more tech-savvy measures to detain participants before the protests using facial recognition technology. But the primary focus of the government’s response has been to tackle social media sites that allow for information sharing, mobilization and political engagement.
After the first wave of protests, Russian media censorship agency Roskomnadzor targeted the most popular social media agencies and even ordered them to remove protest-related material. On January 29, Roskomnadzor called on representatives from TikTok, Facebook, Telegram and VKontakte, arguing that it was their responsibility to remove messages encouraging participation in “ unapproved events, ” the agency’s statement said. The agency also ordered various media outlets to remove reports of the Valentine’s Day protest.
To be sure, these youngsters are only a fraction of the Russian opposition and Navalny herself does not share all their values. The majority of Russians still get their news from traditional news media, which are more loyal to the Kremlin. But right now – after Navalny’s latest attempt at poisoning, recovery, return from Germany and hasty sentencing in Moscow – it is he who is uniting the Russian opposition, including this younger generation who can only remember a Russia under Putin.
Navalny captured their imagination and the government responded quickly. Even the State Department has opened an official TikTok account at the beginning of February the first two posts will be dedicated to Navalny. What resonates most about Navalny to some of his supporters is that he provides a tent for the opposition, gives them tools and educates them on how to make their voices heard: through social media activism, video and street protests. And they keep listening and taking notes, even with Navalny behind bars.
Nikolai says he plans to continue to participate in protests despite his detention. “I think the protest movement will continue, but will take different forms, not just to specific streets at a particular time,” he says. “I see the future of Russia as democratic, free, with respect for the rule of law and for each other. The new generation is less prone to state propaganda. “
“If the prevailing order stays the same, we won’t improve anything.” Shipilova tells The Daily Beast. She is concerned that serving a prison sentence will affect Navalny’s chances of running again. “I hope our country gets better and we will have laws that are important and necessary.”
Even Alexei Navalny’s tone took on a somber, thoughtful tone after the events of Valentine’s Day. He was sentenced to nearly three years in prison. “The prison is in your head,” he wrote in a recent Instagram post, going on to compare his prison cell and conditions to flying a spaceship. “At this point I understand that I am on a space journey, flying to a beautiful new world.”