Navalny and His Potential Supporters

January marked an escalation between the state and its opposition in Russia. On January 17, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny returned to Moscow from Berlin. He was duly arrested. Two days later, his team published the documentary film, “Putin’s Palace,” which gathered more than 113 million views. The film investigated the construction of a mansion on the Black Sea. The most substantial unsanctioned protests of the past few years followed on January 23 and 31. To assess the magnitude and import of these protests, observers have to rely on indirect criteria: the number of protesters detained, and the scale of the media’s response. By these two criteria, the demonstrations can be called the most significant in recent years.