Alexei Navalny’s death became the second most memorable event in February in terms of the number of mentions – after the capture of Avdeyevka by Russian troops. The majority of respondents have heard about the death of the politician, and almost a quarter of respondents voice their sympathy and feelings about this. Today, one in ten respondents speaks about the approval of Alexei Navalny’s activities — two times less than in 2020-21. Supporters of the politician first of all note that he “told the truth”, opposed himself to the authorities, fought corruption, and was brave. Opponents see him primarily as a conductor of the “interests of the West”, a “talker” who embarrassed young people. Every fifth person treats people who come out to honor the memory of a politician positively, almost as many negatively, but the majority is indifferent.

Alexei Navalny’s death became the second most mentioned event in February (it was noted by 13% of respondents, the question was open, no answers were offered, the answers were recorded from the respondents’ words), thereby obscuring Vladimir Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson (5%). However, the most mentioned event was the capture of Avdeyevka by Russian troops (21%); other events were mentioned by 10% of respondents. A large proportion of respondents (40%) did not name any memorable events, and 7% noted personal events.

The majority of Russians (78%) have heard about the death of Alexei Navalny. In particular, one in four (24%) noted that they had heard a lot about it, and half (54%) “heard something, but only in general terms.” Readers of telegram channels were more informed about the incident (39% said they had heard a lot about it). TV viewers were less aware of the incident.

A total of about 23% of respondents felt sympathy, emotion and shock over the death of the politician. About 6% said they were annoyed and even satisfied with what had happened. However, the majority (69%) did not feel any special feelings about the death.
Sympathy is more often expressed by those who “heard a lot about what happened” (35%), younger people (28%) and, above all, oppositional citizens (up to 50%, including 17% in this group experienced “anger and indignation”).

About 11% of respondents replied that they approved of Alexei Navalny’s activities, which is about 2 times less than at the end of 2020. In addition, since the middle of 2021, the number of respondents who did not know anything about politics began to increase. 

Younger Russians (14% in the 25-39 age group) and those who disapprove of the president’s activities (45% of respondents) were more likely to approve of Alexei Navalny’s activities.

The level of disapproval of his activities is higher among the older age groups (55% among the 55+ respondents), residents of Moscow – 69%, as well as those who approve of the activities of the President of the Russian Federation (53%).

Among those who approved of Navalny’s activities, they most often said that they liked him because of his honesty and directness (31%), 28% because he was opposing the government and 19% noted that they liked him because he fought corruption.

Those who disapproved of the politician’s activities were more likely to say that they did not like him because he was “paid for by the West” (22%), opposed the government or simply “chatted and did nothing” (15% each), involved young people in politics (13%)

Half of the respondents (53%) believe that Alexei Navalny has not played any special role in the history of the country. 11% of respondents say that the politician played a rather positive role, rather a negative one – 19%.

More often than others, it was said that Navalny played a rather positive role, Muscovites (16%), those who disapprove of V.Putin’s activities as president. The opinion that Navalny played a rather negative role is more widely shared by those who disapprove of the activities of the current president. 

The attitude towards people who came out to honor the memory of Alexei Navalny is mostly neutral (59%). However, in the age group 55 years and older, a negative attitude (25% in the group) prevails over a positive one (16% in the group). A positive attitude towards people who came out to lay flowers at the monuments of victims of political repression prevails among oppositional citizens (57%).