“We’ve turned Alisher Usmanov -- one of the richest oligarchs in Russia -- into a video blogger,” boasted Navalny, who aims to run against Vladimir Putin in presidential elections next year. When Russian media later discovered that the tycoon had recorded his clip on his 156-meter yacht, Dilbar, located at the time off the French Riviera, Navalny touted the news in his daily web broadcast.
Usmanov’s second video less than a week later was shorter than his debut, but had a more professional look and was less indignant. He vowed to leave the rest of the battle to his lawyers in a libel case set for May 30. Navalny, who denies the libel charges, fired back in yet another video.
In emailed comments to Bloomberg, Usmanov said he didn’t want to leave Navalny’s allegations unanswered because that might be interpreted as a sign they were true. “I decided not to be silent,” he said, adding that the Internet was the best way to get the message out. “Television or newspapers don’t have that kind of audience,” said Usmanov, an early investor in Facebook and currently owner of one of Russia’s largest dailies, Kommersant.
This week, Usmanov announced a contest on his page in the Russian social network he owns for the best parody, sticker or other meme related to the videos. The prize: an iPhone just like the one he used to record his initial clip and an autographed t-shirt.
Maria Zakharova, who as spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry has brought the agency onto the Internet, effused in Facebook that Usmanov’s web-video debut “will be studied at universities by specialists in rhetoric and PR.”
But “this all benefits Navalny, for whom it’s the more attention, the better,” said Gleb Kuznetsov, a political consultant who advises the Kremlin. At the same time, “by getting into a public polemic with him, Usmanov deprives Navalny of the ability to say that the members of the super-elite is scared of direct dialog with him because they have something to hide,” he added.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.