War of egos, undercover agents… Investigation into Putin’s opponents in exile – L’Express

To tell the truth, his ambitious project is already in trouble. A few weeks ago, Maria Pevchikh, the president of the NGO created by Alexeï Navalny, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, declined his invitation to form a three-way coalition in which Katz would be at the level of the two biggest figures of dissidence: the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky (who lives in London) and Alexeï Navalny (who is serving a thirty-year prison sentence). “To hell with your coalitions!” could we read, on September 25, on the blog by Navalny, who explained why, in his opinion, Maxim Katz is an imposter.

“Instead of taking action to make things happen, you organize conferences solely for your personal prestige,” he wrote to Maxim Katz and his supporters. Between the two men, the hatred goes back a long way. In 2014, Katz was Alexei Navalny’s deputy campaign manager, but they separated after a personal conflict. “It was another time,” sweeps the person concerned. Since then, the resentment has not faded: Katz does not subscribe to the electoral strategies of the Navalny clan, while the latter criticizes him for the superficiality of his political project.

This is because the life of Russian opponents is not a long, quiet river. On the contrary. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the various protagonists have been scattered across the four corners of the world (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Israel, United States, etc.). Without real means and forced to wage their fight from abroad, they nevertheless try to unite in the hope of influencing the course of History. But without convincing success, apart, perhaps, from their “declaration of the Russian democratic forces”. Signed last April in Berlin by 28 anti-war associations and supported by 102 Russian personalities (but not by Navalny), it advocates the victory of Ukraine, the restitution of all its occupied territories – Crimea included – and the condemnation of the Putin regime . The signatories meet regularly by video on Zoom or during conferences in European capitals.

“Despite their agreement on these major principles, there are rivalries between them, points out Tatiana Kastouéva-Jean, director of the Russia-Eurasia center of the French Institute of International Relations. They are linked both to personal ambitions and to competition for Western funding and support as well as political projects for Russia according to Putin.” In fact, many plan to return to Russia one day to do politics, starting with Maxim Katz, “an opportunist who, on the Internet, says everything and its opposite”, according to some. For former MP and opponent Guennady Goudkov, now based in Bulgaria, the deleterious climate within the Russian diaspora suits him: “This YouTuber seeks to make his channel profitable through his releases on Navalny, which boost his audience on social networks.”

But Katz does not have a monopoly on self-centeredness. “Navalny refuses to cooperate with other opponents, because he believes that he does not need them, and that they, on the contrary, should come to him,” observes the Russian blogger and political commentator Dmitry Kolezev. Co-author ofAlexei Navalny. The man who defies Putin (Tallandier, 2021), researcher Morvan Lallouet adds: “Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation is a close-knit and fairly opaque structure, and we do not know how often and in what manner its executives are in direct contact with him.” “It looks like a sect,” adds scathingly, an opponent who has known her for a long time. Contacted by L’Express, the NGO did not respond to our interview requests.

From the height of his fortune accumulated when he was close to Putin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky appears as a big man. Exiled for eight years in London, in the chic Marylebone district, after having been “Putin’s prisoner” for ten years, the former oligarch finances a multitude of projects, such as the investigative media Dossier Center, the initiative Kovcheg (“Ark”), which helps exiles, or the Russian Action Committee, an activist organization. However, the millionaire is not unanimous. Known to be level-headed, he confused his friends at the time of Yevgeny Prigojine’s mutiny at the end of June by suggesting they support militia leader Wagner…

Garry Kasparov is hardly more unifying. Established in New York for almost two decades, the former chess champion created the Free Russia Forum to bring together political exiles. But it is considered elitist… and conspiratorial. He indeed adheres to the conspiracy theory of the “new chronology”, according to which History would only begin around the year 1000. All of the above would, according to him, be nothing more than fiction. A few weeks ago, he implied, in an interview, that Navalny was a “Kremlin project” and that his imprisonment was just a set-up!

Whatever their profile, all these opponents have limited means of action and social networks are their only vector and calling for an uprising against Putin is not possible. “We have a moral duty not to do so, because the demonstrators would be immediately repressed or arrested,” explains former MP Gennady Gudkov from Sofia. Since February 2022, nearly 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia for participating in anti-war demonstrations or actions. For his part, journalist Fédor Krasheninnikov, who lives in Brussels, questions their effectiveness: “We hold meetings, we sign joint declarations, but what’s the point?”

To remedy this existential doubt, the radical wing of the opposition in exile advocates direct action, like Mark Feygin and Ilya Ponomarev. The first is a former lawyer for political prisoners, now a YouTuber based in Paris and who regularly goes to the front line in Ukraine. The second is an “ultra” that calls for civil war throughout Russia. “In reality, opinions differ especially on the operating mode,” summarizes Tatiana Kastouéva-Jean. However, another subject of disagreement is emerging, the war between Israel and Hamas. “It divides the opposition a lot,” continues journalist Fédor Krasheninnikov. “Some support Israel, others defend Palestine.”

In this climate of discord, could a leader emerge? The question has been asked many times with, in mind, the example of Belarusian Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, presidential candidate in 2020, who, that year, brought together all the opponents during the major demonstrations in Minsk. But, due to lack of means to organize a real election, Russian dissidence is condemned to remain a coalition. “They would need one or rather three tutelary figures who would place themselves above political debates,” reasons MEP Bernard Guetta, member of the Renew Europe group. “Artists or intellectuals, for example.”

Could former Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov, son of ex-parliamentarian turned opponent Gennady Gudkov, be one of them? In exile in Cyprus, he presents himself as “the one who speaks with everyone” – from Navalny’s team to Khodorkovsky, including Maxim Katz. A feat. “The solution would be for Navalny and the opponents in exile to present a united front, which would allow them to work with Western institutions.”

This united front is found more on the side of Russian activists in exile. “Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, a large part of Russian exiles in Europe are activists, or people already involved in political opposition movements, recalls Olga Prokopieva, spokesperson for the Russia-Libertés association. They united, and gave birth to a large network of anti-war Russians, including inside Russia, where they act exclusively clandestinely.” Vesna (“Spring”), the anti-war feminist Resistance or Idite lesom (“Pass through the Forest”), which helps Russian deserters, are organizations with less media exposure than the major opposition figures, although they carry out essential work. These hundreds of activists have adopted a mode of horizontal action and exchange with each other during opposition forums, like the conference organized by Russia-Libertés in Paris last September. “We should focus our attention on activist movements, rather than on large opposition figures,” assures Russian journalist Dan Storyev.

The latter still deplores a lack of structure. According to the novelist Iegor Gran, the current discord is the work of FSB agents infiltrated within the opposition in exile. “It’s a classic: Putin’s agents apply techniques inherited from the NKVD [la police politique de Staline]deciphers the author of Z for zombie (POL, 2022). In the 1920s, Russian emigrants and former White Army fighters in exile represented a danger for Moscow, which sent agents on their trail in order to cast shame on them. Their method? In Paris, Berlin and New York, they accused certain émigrés of being agents of the Bolshevik revolution. Such attacks created a deleterious climate which closely resembles the current situation…”

Today, all eyes are on Vladimir Ossetchkine, a “very strange” character, according to several opponents. Founder of the site Gulagu.net, specialized in denouncing cases of torture in Russian prisons, he received political asylum in France in 2015, and currently lives in Biarritz. But his links with the Russian authorities are ambiguous. According to the Russian investigative media Proekt, he has the annoying habit of accusing everyone of being in the pay of the FSB. Furthermore, “it happens that Kremlin agents pose as human rights activists,” adds Irina Putilova, who collaborated with the NGO OVD-Info, which helps political prisoners. one of them contacted me on Facebook and started asking me questions about the exile community. I immediately understood that it was an FSB agent,” says this woman based in the region. Parisian for two years. The various cases of poisoning of Russians in Europe do not alleviate the constant fear of these exiles. To destroy the opposition in exile, what better poison than that of paranoia?