The Russian protests — some reason to the passionate media plot

After the incredible events that have been taking place in the USA recently, we thought it was about time we saw a new chapter in the online political show: this time, it came from Russia. Alexei Navalny is the new star of the media! The story is very complicated, like any Russian novel, we might say! Accusations, poisoning, arrest, corruption—the Navalny story has all the elements of an incredible plot. It is challenging to have a nuanced and balanced perspective on a level that has captured the public’s imagination and where things are only presented in black and white.
Any attempt to reason would lead some people to call you either a Russian agent or an American agent! Additionally, there is little room for a debate that would step outside the official propaganda. The Russian media are saying this is the sole fault of the US secret services. Just like CNN accused the Russians of putting Trump in the White House, Russia Today accuses the CIA of being behind the protests. The enemy is always outside! The protesters and the Western media portray Navalny in an extremely positive light, even though the New York Times warned in 2011 about very troubling declarations Navalny made!
The recent protests in Russia started with a movie about one of Putin’s palaces that Navalny released after his arrest. We, Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski, invited political scientist Todor Todorov who works at Sofia University to discuss this very complicated story from a nuanced and critical perspective on the Russian protests.  This episode was live streamed on 31 January 2021 at 3 PM CET.
Watch the entire conversation on our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe to and like the video. This will help us make our analysis more popular, and more people will have the chance to get familiar with the political, social and economic problems in Eastern Europe.

Photo: Todor Todorov (left), Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski (source: The Barricade)
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