Alexei Navalny tries to convince an MI6 agent to obtain funds for a coup? This is what many posts on social networks claim, accompanied by a video in which two people speak in English about a millionaire loan. Navalny is not seen and there is no talk of any coup d'état. In fact, the person in the video is not Navalny and is not planning a coup. The content was shared on social networks a few days after the death of Vladimir Putin's opponent on February 16 in Kharp, a Russian city located beyond the Arctic Circle where the maximum security prison in which the political dissident was serving a sentence for “extremism”.
For those in a hurry:
- The video is cut and therefore could give a different idea of the story compared to the full film.
- It is claimed that one of the two men filmed is Navalny, determined to seek millionaire funding.
- The video was published in 2021 by Russia todaya Moscow-controlled newspaper banned in the European Union for the incorrect propaganda information it broadcasts.
- The person in the video is not Navalny, but one of his collaborators: Vladimir Ashurkov.
- The funding has nothing to do with a coup d'état, but with the anti-corruption investigative NGO FBK.
Analyzes
Let's see a screenshot of one of the messages being checked. The description reads:
“In this video, Navalny asks MI6 officer James William Thomas Ford for $10 million to $20 million a year to launch a color revolution in Russia. “If you spend 10 to 20 million a year on this, you will get a completely different result.” Well, ultimately, of course, he was for democracy and for everything that is good…”
What is stated in the social media posts is false. First of all, the person asking for money in the video is not Navalny, but his collaborator, Vladimir Ashurkov. His appearance is much more compatible with the images in the film than that of Navalny, who has a completely different face. Ashurkov is the person to the viewer's left.
What is said in the video
“If we had more money, we would obviously have more opportunities,” Achourkov is heard continuing: “If someone spent 10, 20 million dollars a year on aid, we would have a very different picture. And that's not a particularly large amount of money for people with billions. We must play on several fields: mass protests, civil initiatives, propaganda, establish contacts with the elites to explain to them that we are reasonable people, that we will not demolish everything and that we will not take away their property. » The interlocutor laughs and comments: “It's not an easy task”.
Assembly
As you can see by watching it, the video was edited leaving out several parts. It was published, explaining that the person asking for money is not Navalny but Ashurkov Russia today on February 1, 2021. The online newspaper is managed directly by Moscow and presented to foreign states. Due to the disinformation it spreads, it was banned from the EU in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to RT, the video was filmed in 2012 and released by the FSB. The person speaking to Ashurkov is believed to be an employee of the British Embassy in Moscow, also identified as MI6 (the UK's foreign spy agency) agent James William Thomas Ford.
It's not Navalny
There are several remarkable aspects of the video. First, it is interesting that a video from 2012 was released in February 2021, a few days after Navalny returned to Russia following his poisoning and hospitalization in Germany. Not even RT therefore, which would have every interest in discrediting Navalny, speaks of a coup d'état or includes the dissident among the protagonists of the video. The references all concern FBK, an anti-corruption investigative non-governmental organization founded by Navalny which over the years has conducted investigations into numerous Russian politicians, including Defense Minister Sergi Shoigu and the head of the State Dmitry Medvedev.
Conclusions
The person in the video is not Navalny, but one of his collaborators: Vladimir Ashurkov. The funding has nothing to do with a coup d'état, but with the anti-corruption investigative NGO FBK.
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