CNN spoke to Maria Pevchikh, the head of the investigative department at Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. She is also executive producer of the CNN film “Navalny”.
Here’s what she said:
Q: What can Navalny’s story tell us about Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime as we observe this war they started?
A: It’s a pretty good prequel. It actually explains a lot. This film gives a lot of context and explains how we ended up at this point and where Putin is invading countries and killing people and somehow getting away with it.
Question: You have kept the Anti-Corruption Foundation running since Navalny was arrested. Why is it important to continue this work?
A: It’s not just me. There are dozens of other people working with us.
It is a matter of principle for us to continue our work despite the fact that Alexey is in prison. That is exactly what Putin wanted to achieve. Putin wanted to lock up Navalny and destroy his work – stop our investigations, stop our political work, stop everything. It is a matter of principle for us to show Vladimir Putin and those responsible for this that this will not work. That we will continue our work and will work harder and more than before. And we intend to keep going for as long as it takes.
Q: As investigator for this foundation, what have you found out lately?
A: We did two this month. We conducted an investigation on the Scheherazade yacht. It’s somewhere in Italy and has no owner. I think it’s the 11th or 12th most expensive yacht in the world. Nobody knows who owns it. In our investigation, we proved that it belongs to Vladimir Putin.
And last week we published an investigation into Valery Gergiev, a Russian conductor and classical musician who is very famous and a frequent guest at places like the Metropolitan Opera and the Grand Opera. Besides being a very famous musician, he is also a prominent supporter of Putin and Putin’s war. So we conducted a major investigation into how Valery Gergiev is being paid to publicly whitewash Putin abroad.
Q: Navalny was recently sentenced to more time in prison. What do you think the future holds for him? Will he manage to get out of this prison?
A: I don’t think these numbers mean anything. He can be sentenced to nine years to 99 years to 900 years. It’s practically meaningless.
Navalny’s case is purely political. Vladimir Putin decided to throw him in prison indefinitely. As many people say, Navalny’s sentence is essentially life imprisonment. The question is whose life will it be? I’m pretty sure Navalny will probably remain in prison until Putin leaves office, until Putin is removed from power. Our mission is to make sure that day comes as soon as possible and that Alexey gets out of prison as soon as possible.
Q: In this documentary we learn what Navalny’s vision for Russia is, how he imagined the future. Do you expect Russia to ever bear fruit?
A: Absolutely. That is the plan. We have been working on this for many years. It would be weird if we spent a decade doing something we didn’t believe in and didn’t think was possible.
I am convinced that the so-called “beautiful Russia of the future” – as Alexey calls it – is actually possible. It’s achievable and achievable, and yes, it’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of work to make sure it happens, but there are so many people, so many Russians, who are willing to do this work, who are willing Risking her life, her career, her everything just to make sure that one day Russia will be a free and democratic country.
Tune in tomorrow at 9pm ET to watch the CNN movie “Navalny” on CNN.