2 cents from someone living in a post-soviet neighboring-to-Russia country.
What I hear very frequently (mostly) from Russian people is stuff like "not sure Navalny is clear himself" or "how come a random blogger know about / be involved in so much?" etc. Which then somehow invalidates all the vast amounts of proof of corruption, injustice, and plain incompetency going on.
Muddying the waters appears to be Russia's/Putin's weapon of choice. Russian information-bubble is strong.
Doesn't only apply to Navalny situation, of course. Same goes for the occupation of Crimea, striking of MH17, as well as lots of past crimes that the elite wants to sugar-coat for political reasons.
I guess the moral here is to take this into account when someone tells you how the situation in/with Russia is "actually not like the media portrays". (spoiler: it's likely even worse)
It's not just an issue with Russians. In the West, many liberals have been convinced Snowden and Assange are traitors for airing the government's dirty laundry and crimes - if you can convince them of that, it's not unbelievable to convince Russians Navalny is a traitor, too.
What I hear very frequently (mostly) from Russian people is stuff like "not sure Navalny is clear himself" or "how come a random blogger know about / be involved in so much?" etc. Which then somehow invalidates all the vast amounts of proof of corruption, injustice, and plain incompetency going on.
Muddying the waters appears to be Russia's/Putin's weapon of choice. Russian information-bubble is strong.
Doesn't only apply to Navalny situation, of course. Same goes for the occupation of Crimea, striking of MH17, as well as lots of past crimes that the elite wants to sugar-coat for political reasons.
I guess the moral here is to take this into account when someone tells you how the situation in/with Russia is "actually not like the media portrays". (spoiler: it's likely even worse)