Social media has empowered the citizens of one more country 'Russia.' There have been protests against Putin's rule, as president from 2000 to 2008 and as prime minister since then, but have rarely drawn more than about 200 people. This time Putin's victory was openly claimed to be rigged. Just as this news spread on social media, protesters and opposition forces used Twitter for updates. Facebook was used to announce the protest. The impact was huge and the elections have been called for a re-run.
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny born June 4, 1976 is a Russian political and social activist who is, also, an active blogger. He organizes petitions by Russian citizens on issues mainly related to heavy corruption in Russia. In this latest protest, he offered his blog as a clearing house for evidence of election violations. His blog claimed the issue of DDoS (Distributed denial of service) attacks, in which the Russian citizens were denied network access and got many media websites shut. He played a key role in this social media led Russian revolt against Putin.
New media, and the protests have helped strengthen Navalny, 35, into a much more potent opposition force. Until now he has been an informal leader of the disenchanted, campaigning online against corruption and showed nationalist tendencies. But his jail sentence on Tuesday could turn him into a symbol and leader of the protests.
In a tiny courtroom where he was sentenced to 15 days in jail for obstruction of justice during Monday's protest, Navalny said the Kremlin would seek to silence anyone who spread the word about what he said was obvious vote-rigging. "The elections were falsified," Navalny, looking exhausted and angry, told Reuters. "The very acknowledgement of this fact will be deadly for the regime, and they will do their utmost to shut the mouths of everyone who talks about it openly," said Navalny, looking gaunt and without laces in his dirty boots. He has also challenged Putin directly, accusing him of ruling a corrupt elite as "chairman of the board of Russia Inc." and branded his party "swindlers and thieves."
We have a young Russian leader in making!
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