By Syndicated Content
By Andrew Osborn, Anton Zverev and Tom Balmforth
MOSCOW (Reuters) â He has been poisoned, jailed and his close aides are either being prosecuted or have fled abroad. His anti-Kremlin opposition movement is now also likely to soon be outlawed as extremist.
Yet Alexei Navalny and his supporters continue to work on ways to remain a thorn in President Vladimir Putinâs side, even as one of his most important financial backers says the movement in its current form is finished and will take time to rebound.
In the eyes of the Kremlin, the only half-meaningful political weapon the Navalny camp has left is its campaign for tactical, or what it calls âsmartâ voting against the ruling United Russia party in a parliamentary election in September, according to three people close to the Russian authorities.