ORYOL, Russia – About 320 kilometers southwest of Moscow, Oryol is a world away from the bright lights and prosperity of the Russian capital. To understand the tens of thousands of protesters who came across the country to protest the arrest of the Kremlin’s critic, Alexei Navalny, see here.
The industry in Oryol has never fully recovered from the collapse of post-Soviet Russia. Formerly proud factories are abandoned. Parts of the city do not have indoor toilets and running water. With few job prospects, many young people feel they have no choice but to leave.
The treatment of Navalny may have ignited the fuse for the protests, but the rallies quickly became an outlet for widespread complaints from Russians about falling living standards, the collapse of infrastructure and chronic corruption, and mark a tectonic change in relations between ordinary citizens and the Kremlin.
“People don’t go out to protest for someone, they go against something,” said Artyom Prokhorov, a marketing manager in Oryol who shares a two-bedroom apartment with his ex-wife and two children. “Navalny simply served as a trigger. People are tired of what’s going on here. “
For much of President Vladimir Putin’s 20 years in power, oil prices have been high and economic growth solid. Russian military interventions abroad have aroused national pride. And the Russians were largely out of opposition politics and protests.