Russia’s political opposition, suffocated more and more each year by the Putin regime, has long been fragmented and plagued by infighting. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin repression escalated to new extremes, making survival nearly impossible for independent political voices inside the country. As a result, the opposition’s most prominent figures now live abroad, making it increasingly difficult for them to shake accusations that they’re out of touch with those they claim to represent. The 2024 death of Alexey Navalny, widely regarded as the leader of Russia’s pro-democracy opposition, along with a wave of both physical and rhetorical attacks between opposition factions, has left many anti-war Russians feeling helpless, exhausted, and unrepresented. Meduza special correspondent Lilia Yapparova spoke with activists, politicians, and ordinary Russians who oppose the Putin regime to understand how the movement reached this point — and where its future lies.
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