Putin says ‘self-promoting’ organizers are exploiting anti-corruption protesters

Speaking on Thursday, Vladimir Putin said the recent anti-corruption protests that swept roughly 200 cities in Russia last weekend were organized to address “personal issues related to self-promotion,” and not to “improve the situation in Russia.”

“It’s one thing to organize a protest, but it’s something else entirely to use these demonstrations as an instrument for provocations and exacerbating the situation, all for self-promotion. That’s not something I welcome,” Putin said, according to the news agency Interfax.

The president also stressed that he supports demonstrations as a means of public expression, saying protests can be a “good way to convey to the authorities — to the authorities in any country, including in Russia — the perspectives of people who disagree on various issues with the acting authorities.” Putin then added, “At the same time, all protests, including demonstrations, must observe the law. [...] Just as state officials and law enforcement must act within the confines of the law.”

On June 12, anti-corruption activists protested in cities across Russia in a movement organized by opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who was jailed that day for 30 days for calling demonstrators in Moscow to Tverskaya Street, rather than Sakharov Prospekt, where his team had a city permit. In a tense standoff that lasted several hours, Moscow police detained more than 800 protesters who came to Tverskaya to support Navalny.

Vladimir Putin has never uttered Alexey Navalny's name aloud publicly. It is commonplace in Russian politics to criticize opposition leaders as “self-promoters” who allegedly manipulate young people.