Navalny: the post-Novichok comeback of Russia's opposition leader

Navalny has recently made the headlines of the Western media after being poisoned with the Soviet chemical weapon Novichok. His scandalous reputation in Russia provoked a vivid discussion on the nature of the event. Internet users were concerned about the condition of the famous opposition leader but also started posing questions like ‘Why didn’t  happen earlier?’, ‘Why didn’t they let him die?’, and ‘What else do you expect after publishing the anti-governmental investigations?’. 

Th article is going to focus on the way Navalny has used his Instagram account as a primary way of communicating with his followers during his post-poisoning recovery period.  will investigate the strategic use of social media of the politician in the hybrid media system and the way the crisis was used in online communication to increase Navalny’s media visibility.

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Alexei Navalny: most wanted

Alexei Navalny is a controversial figure in the Russian media space. He is best known to be an opposition leader and anti-corruption activist. Navalny has gained attention after publishing scandalous investigations exposing national companies and prominent front-line Russian politicians. He faced multiple arrests and was barred when trying to run in the presidential elections of 2018. As a result, Navalny called for  election boycott which was widely discussed in the online space. 

With his YouTube channel of over 4 Million subscribers (23.10.2020) producing political updates and anti-corruption investigation videos Instagram, tof 2,3 Million followers (23.10.2020) (Figure 2), Navalny is an influential media figure. He uses this online visibility to propagate his political stances and generate action among his followers. 

Because of his provocative ideas not accepted by the Kremlin, the politician got the reputation the rebel in the Russian media space. Vladimir Putin refuses to publicly pronounce Navalny’s name, referring to him as “this gentleman” or “the character you mentioned” (Walker, 2020). Throughout the years, internet users have voiced their concerns about the wellbeing of Navalny: how come is he istill safe and sound uncovering billion-dollar corruption schemes involving Russia’s top leaders? 

August 2020 has changed it all. Alexei started feeling worse on  flight. The plane had to land in the Siberian city of Omsk so that  can receive medical attention. After being hospitalized there for two days, Navalny was urgently transferred to Berlin, while experiencing a medically-induced coma (AFP, 2020) (Figure 3). Running multiple tests, on the 2nd of September, the German army laboratory has concluded that Navalny was poisoned by a Soviet-era chemical weapon, Novichok (AFP, 2020).

NATO, the EU, and political leaders such as Angela Merkel started demanding an investigation. On the 3rd of September, the Kremlin rejected the claim that it was behind Navalny’s poisoning (AFP, 2020). Russia starts receiving new sanctions threats. Laboratories in other countries confirmed the Novichok finding. In the meantime, the official position of Moscow remains impartial blaming Navalny’s condition on a poor diet, fatigue, and stress (AFP, 2020). Macron, via a phone call to Putin, asked him to shed light on the situation, but Russia’s president “condemns ‘unsubstantiated’ accusations” (AFP, 2020).

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Crisis posting in a hybrid media system 

The poisoning of Navalny, as a main public competitor for the presidential seat of Putin, has made it to the headlines internationally. Many Russian citizens have been waiting for updates on the opposition leader’s health condition as a symbol of hope for Russia’s political future. This media attention and increased activity on his Instagram account were strategically used to motivate the uptake and to gain visibility in the hybrid media system.

After  slightly recovered, Navalny strategically chose Instagram as the platform to release his first message. As of June 2020, the platform has over 51 million users in Russia, mostly  2534 years old (Melkadze, 2020). Instagram’s popularity and relatively young audience are beneficial for a politician to influence. Navalny, his wife, and his daughter are all active users of the platform sharing the updates in their personal blogs and creating parasocial relationships with their followers. The high online media involvement of the family creates a warm and authentic ‘truthful’ feeling that resonates with the audience. 

All the posts of Navalny are written in Russian, aiming primarily at  Russian-speaking audience. The activist usually shares updates on his activism, political shows, and personal life. Navalny often addresses his audience directly sharing the most recent information concerning his persona. The activist's network knows where to find him online and where to look for the updates.

Navalny’s Instagram contributes to constructing his public appearance as an opposition leader, family man, activist, and, among all the other things, it rebrands the fact that Putin prefers not to mention Alexei’s name. The politician’s bio says “Founder of Anti-Corruption Fund, Mentioned Citizen, Other Politician, Another Politician, Various Activist, This Mr., Characters you’ve just mentioned” referring to the ways Putin has used to mention Navalny. In this way, the activist rebrands the confrontation with Putin to his advantage. With his Instagram bio Navalny is making a political point “Yes, I am the man Putin prefers to avoid talking about''.

For people not in the know, it may seem like Navalny is just documenting his recovery in his public diary. However, together with the posts on his condition, the politician often accuses Putin, criticizes the Russian government, calls for action, and combats the fake news about himself. 

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Navalny's comeback and his mediated online interaction

Navalny's after-poisoning Instagram features a few key types of posts. The first one shares the details of his life and makes him appear more 'human'. For instance, Alexei Navalny was back online on the 15th of September, posting a picture on Instagram with his family from Berlin’s Charitée hospital. The activist has shared that he missed his followers and that he could still barely do anything by himself. However, at least he started breathing on his own aday before, without the help of the medical ventilators. The post received over 1,5 million likes and over 90,000 responses (24.10.2020) (Figure 4). The comment section is full of the replies of ordinary users and public figures alike, sharing words of support for the ‘long-awaited’ post. 

In  media interaction, the politician shares his recovery routine and thanks all the people helping him in the first hours of the poisoning. His version is the following: Navalny felt worse 20 minutes into the flight, 15 minutes later he , with no access to medical help. In the comment section, some users voice their concern about the wellbeing of the pilots who landed the plane in emergency mode (12.029 comment likes). 

, Navalny shares content talking about his romantic relationship with his wife. One of the posts immediately  viral with nearly 1,5 million likes and boosts Instagram's algorithms making Navalny one of the most visible people in the Russian hybrid media space. 

Navalny’s communication via his Instagram account can be viewed as an example of the politically mediated online interaction. Thompson (2020) explains the term as the stretching of social relations across space and time with dialogical nature, oriented towards  multiplicity of potential recipients. Navalny’s choice to communicate through social network sites (SNSs) is a perfect setting for this type of interaction. 

By sharing his personal life and political updates on his Instagram account, the politician uses the platform's affordances. Navalny’s followers often enter heated debates and supportive discussions in the comment sections of his posts expanding their networks “of social relationships characterized by varying degrees of familiarity” (Thompson, 2020). 

Reacting to his updates, Navalny’s followers “make visible not only their profiles” but, increasingly, also their social networks (Thompson, 2020) which is a rich data source for the politician. Looking at Navalny’s Instagram account, we witness a specific “form of interaction” (Thompson, 2020) that uncovers the personal lives of the activist’s followers and functions like a time-bomb with a political statement waiting to be discovered by the media consumers. 

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Political campaigning and networking in the hybrid media system

 type of Navalny's posts on the platform  the blame on the government and Putin, making a political statement. The comment section of such posts contains various responses such as ‘We all know where [...the poison] came from’ (1,157 likes), ‘As has already been accepted in our country, the investigation on the poisoning of Navalny is going to be done by Navalny himself’ (15,384 likes), ‘You’re alive and that’s the most important! The main thing is, you shouldn’t come back to Russia, they will kill you, as they killed Tesak [key neo-nazi leader] last night…’ (3,780 likes). Navalny uses this attention to promote his YouTube channel as an alternative and truthful source of information. 

One of the posts containing criticism was published on the 22nd of September (Figure 5). Navalny wrote about Putin, judging his response to ‘his French colleague’ (implying Macron) that “Navalny could have swallowed this poison himself”. The activist ironically criticizes this version of what . Navalny shared that the situation should be studied with precision. He sarcastically stated that his hospitalization probably arose from cooking Novichok in his kitchen so he can experience the state of coma, all to die in a hospital in Siberia, but Putin has outplayed him: “You can’t fool him [Putin] that easily”. Instagram users picked up the post’s irony and wrote comments (20,581) mostly criticizing Putin and supporting Navalny in becoming Russia’s next president. 

On the 6th of October, Navalny made a post informing his followers that the international organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed that a combat poisoning substance of  class ‘Novichok’ has been detected in his biomaterials. Two posts later, he shares a pre-recorded video where he voices his opinion on the attempt on his life and his eventual return to Russia. In addition, he openly suggests that Putin ordered the poisoning. As proof, Navalny insists that there is no criminal case and no investigation yet and that he cannot even get access to his medical documents. The activist then poses a question: “Who controls everything from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB to hospitals and courts?”. 

The following post features the protests in the Russian city of Khabarovsk (Figure 6). Navalny uses the event as a case to criticize the government and calls Putin one of those in charge of violence against the people. At the end of the post, he hints at the upcoming protest in the city saying “I hope the protest in Khabarovsk next Saturday will be the biggest one”. In the comment section (12,986 comments), users support people in Khabarovsk, draw parallels between protests in neighboring Belarus, and share how they are getting ready to go out on the streets. 

Digital platforms provide the space to target different demographic groups online (Chadwick, et al, 2016). The old and new media are very well mutually integrated into the contemporary world (Chadwick, et al, 2016). Simply put, what is talked about in one, gets picked up by the other. The hybrid media sphere provides a highly competitive environment for politicians. The possibilities to gain visibility require new creative ways to trigger algorithms and gain visibility that’s why contemporary election campaigns never stop. 

In Navalny's case, the active use of social media accounts, allows his political campaign to interact with his audience, “including, most importantly, journalists themselves, but also bypass traditional media and their historical gatekeeping role” (Chadwick, et al, 2016). The contemporary election campaigns are characterized by the growing systematic integration of traditional media outlets and the internet (Chadwick, et al, 2016). Even now, although the election phase is not active, Navalny still generates attention on his Instagram account and prepares his followers for the offline uptake, by constantly criticizing the current government. 

Online tools give a lot of power to the political campaign team (Chadwick, et al, 2016). The strategically built communication plan gives “direct access to the public, through campaign website and social media, and this fosters reciprocity and virality” (Chadwick, et al, 2016). In times of misinformation and speculation around his poisoning, Navalny has managed to maintain a strong network of online supporters. 

The online network of Alexei Navalny makes him an influential agent in the hybrid media system. He is one of the fewer people in society who has a chance to express his opinion and broadcast it to the masses, compared to the general community of individuals “who receive impressions from the mass media” (Wright Mills, 1956). Navalny brings a personal touch to his Instagram account by sharing his recovery stories and emotional family moments. This trust to his followers who stay active and boost the algorithms promoting his posts. In the meantime, Navalny pragmatically links his audiences who are worried about his health condition to check more information on his YouTube channel, in his interviews, and ‘verified’ sources. These external media links provide updates on Navalny’s condition but also give more information on his ideology of resistance to the current Russian political system. 

The investment in the close connection with Navalny’s audience  his poisoning is a strategic move towards a potential offline uptake. The activist encourages online activity that leads to increased offline activity (Chadwik et al, 2016). The “action taken online inspires supporters” (Chadwik et al, 2016) to participate in the offline uprising. 

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The digital and non-digital uptake

A type of content, featured on Navalny's Instagram, deals with the external media links. Several posts are dedicated to Navalny’s first interview for ‘Spiegel’ and another interview in Russian for  local YouTube journalist, following with the link in the bio (Figures 8,9). At that point, Alexei Navalny was able to give interviews and shared his point of view about the poisoning. By giving his followers links to different mediums and sources in two languages, he contributed to spreading his perspective of what happened in August-September 2020. 

The systematic hybridity of contemporary media can be traced in politics as it has an influence on the production of news, dissemination of information, election campaigns, activism, parties, and governmental communication (Chadwik et al, 2016). With regard to this new media system, the goal of the politicians is to adapt to its structure and benefit from the opportunities it provides. 

The contemporary system is nudging away “from “either/or” patterns of thought and toward “not only, but also” patterns of thought” (Chadwick et al, 2016). By referencing older media in the context of Instagram, their logic gets intertwined. Traditional elite newspaper organizations still play a very important role in hybrid media election campaigns (Chadwick et al, 2016). For Navalny, referencing the German 'Spiegel' magazine on his Instagram account increases the credibility of his story in the eyes of his audiences. Criticizing the Russian federal channel report, on the other hand, provides the media system with an alternative version of the events.

In his Instagram communication, Navalny references different kinds of media sources. The activist interacts with newspaper and television reports produced on his poisoning, in this way rejecting simple dichotomies and fostering the hybrid media approach (Chadwick et al, 2016). Navalny uses his post-poisoning visibility online to interact with the media and to gain influence in the hybrid system. 

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Combatting junk news

 type of post by Navalny shares the mocking response to the propaganda and speculation connected to his poisoning (Figure 11). He makes fun of the rumors, as well as the official report on the federal channel that spread misinformation about his poisoning, political persona, and ties with Germany.

The rapid development of digital media has opened new horizons for the political fight for hegemony and power. The fields of politics and media got intertwined, reshaped, and re-organized under the influence of social media platforms (Maly, 2020). Politicians have to find ways to combat and re-address junk news. In the case of Navalny, the activist addresses the issues on his Instagram account.

The nature of junk news is addictive (Venturini, 2019). With his Instagram posts, Navalny does not debunk misinformation because such a response does not usually contribute to its diffusion (Venturini, 2019). Instead, the activist mocks the federal channels and the official media narrative about his poisoning. At the same time, Navalny warns internet users to be cautious with what they believe in a playful way. The politician provides his followers with a credible alternative to his Instagram by streaming his life and political views while the events unfold which in itself cancels a part of the circulated misinformation. 

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Mediated Persona

Undoubtedly, Navalny's team has mastered his online media presence. However, one should bear in mind that the politician's name has long been associated with controversy. For instance, Navalny has supported Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, often stating "ambiguous statements regarding Ukrainian sovereignty" (Umland, 2021). In addition, he was accused of voicing anti-migrant statements in the 2000s, regarded by Amnesty International as hate speech (Roth, 2021). To get an actual idea about any political actor we must look outside of Instagram's ideally-constructed filtered image trying to look beyond the perfected online persona. 

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From serious crisis to political momentum

Navalny has gone through a dangerous poisoning that has placed him in between life and death and left millions of Russians questioning the future of the opposition politics in the country. However, the activist has managed to find a way to use his Instagram account as a strategic medium of political uptake in the hybrid media system. 

Navalny is not usually talked about on tv and in the federal news reports. Internet visibility is the only tool of Navalny to spread his anti-governmental views and organize his political campaign. In the times when his life was under a threat, millions of Russians all over the world have been daily checking and constantly renewing Navalny's Instagram page for updates on his condition. 

During the increased attention to his social media the crisis, Navalny managed to use the platform strategically. Social media communication, in the case of the activist's recovery, has allowed him to broaden his networks, trigger the algorithms, combat junk news, and gain visibility in the hybrid media system. Using the aftermath of the poisoning to his advantage, Navalny has managed to strengthen his political influence which increases the chances of offline uptake and public mobilization when the momentum is there. 

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References 

AFP. (2020). Timeline Of The Alexei Navalny Poisoning. AFP News. 

Chadwick, A., Dennis, J., Smith, A. P. (2016). Politics in the Age of Hybrid Media: Power, Systems, and Media Logics.

Maly, I. (2020). Algorithmic populism and the datafication and gamification of the
people by Flemish Interest in Belgium. SciELO.

Melkadze, A. (2020). Instagram users distribution in Russia as of June 2020, by age group. Statista.

Navalny, A. (2020). The Navalny's Post-poisoning. [Interview with Y. Dud’]. 

Navalny, A. (2020). Personal Instagram account. 

Roth, A. (2021). Amnesty strips Alexei Navalny of 'prisoner of conscience' status. The Guardian. 

Thompson, J. B. (2020). Mediated Interaction in the Digital Age. University of Cambridge. 

Umland, A. (2021). Alexei Navalny is a Russian nationalist but he may still be good news for Ukraine. Atlantic Council. 

Venturini, T. (2019). From Fake to Junk News, the Data Politics of Online Virality. In D. Bingo, E. Isin, & E. Ruppert (Eds.), Data Politics: Worlds, Subjects, Rights. London: Routledge (forthcoming).

Walker, S. (2020). 'This gentleman': Alexei Navalny, the name Putin dares not speak. The Guardian. 

Wright Mills, C. (1956). The Power Elite. Oxford University Press. 

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