Rusnano says Alexey Navalny lied about Russian government spending on a lousy iPhone case

The state corporation Rusnano is accusing Alexey Navalny of knowingly misleading his YouTube audience about a malfunctioning e-ink iPhone case the company’s head, Anatoly Chubais, gifted him on live television in 2015.

According to Rusnano, the iPhone case was developed by a company called Popslate (which ceased to exist six months ago), though Navalny’s video attributes the case to another business called Plastic Logic that has received large investments from Rusnano. Plastic Logic only developed the iPhone case’s flexible screen, Rusnano said in a video on Facebook, and the rest of the product was designed by Popslate, which has “no connection to Rusnano’s investment activities.”

Rusnano’s Facebook video does not address the fact that Chubais gaveNavalny the iPhone case during a televised debate in 2015 as an example of Rusnano’s work.

In his YouTube video, Navalny unboxed the iPhone case (whose screen displayed the Rusnano logo) and proceeded to show how poorly it works. Navalny then claimed that Rusnano invested 10 billion rubles ($170.6 million) in the product, citing the company’s investment in Plastic Logic.

When Chubais gave the device to Navalny in 2015, he said, “This product bears Rusnano’s logo, and I think it would be very useful if Navalny goes around using it with his iPhone.”