Opposition leader Navalny eyes Russian presidency

Prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who made his name exposing official corruption, has said he hopes to win the next presidential election so he has the power to crack down on Russia’s “current government of thieves”.

Navalny’s statement marked the first time he has openly declared his intention to run for president. Some observers saw his move as an attempt to raise the stakes ahead of his trial later this month on embezzlement charges, which he rejects as politically motivated.

Navalny, 36, said on the independent Rain TV on Thursday that he wants the nation’s top job in order to change life in Russia for the better and would see that president Vladimir Putin and his lieutenants end up in prison for their alleged abuses.

“I want to become president. I want to change the model of government” so the nation’s leaders “don’t lie and don’t steal”. He said his goal is to make sure the Russians “stop living in poverty and hopeless misery and live normally like in a European country”.

Navalny, a charismatic lawyer and popular blogger, exposed official corruption and became a key driving force behind a series of protests in Moscow against Mr Putin’s return to the presidency.

As the protests died down following Mr Putin’s inauguration, the Kremlin-controlled parliament quickly stamped a series of laws that introduced heavy fines for participants in unsanctioned rallies and requested non-government organisations that receive foreign funds and engage in loosely-defined political activities to register as “foreign agents”.. In recent weeks, Russian prosecutors have launched searches of thousands of non-governmental organisations to check their compliance with the law.

Navalny is to go on trial in 17 April on charges of leading an organised crime group that stole more than 10,000 cubic metres of timber while he worked for a provincial governor.

He described them as an attempt by the Kremlin to sideline a political opponent.