DISINFO: In 2021 the West convinced Navalny to return to Russia to organise a Maidan
SUMMARY
In 2021 Navalny returned to Russia at the urging of the West to organise a Maidan in Russia. If the Russian Maidan had succeeded, the West would have won the game. If it had failed, it would have had a martyr to brandish at Putin.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Alexei Navalny and Western-funded "colour revolutions"
Framing all popular protests against Russia’s interests as a foreign-led ‘colour revolution’ is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative. No evidence is provided to back up the claims.
Pro-Kremlin media frequently falsely portray popular protests around the world as instigated from abroad, often by the US and the West. The disinformation narrative has been applied, among others, to reports about protests in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia, Hong Kong, with the aim of portraying protest movements as aggressive actors who constantly prepare new coups.
The purpose is to work up fear, paranoia, and further animosity among the Russian population toward Western countries.
Finally, this disinformation story aims to divert any Russian responsibility for the death of Alexei Navalny - a frequent target of pro-Kremlin disinformation. The reasons for his death remain unclear.
Efforts to prevent Navalny's family from accessing his body, coupled with reports of an FSB team visiting the prison and tampering with security cameras, which ultimately malfunctioned on the day of Navalny's death, fuel suspicions of a possible state-sanctioned murder by Russian authorities.
See further disinformation claims that the West needs Alexey Navalny to destabilise Russia; that Alexei Navalny is a depleted political project; that the neo-liberal forces behind Navalny will intensify their attempts to destroy Russia; that Navalny is used as an instrument by Western special services and that the West needs Alexei Navalny to destabilise the situation in Russia.