title: Alexei Navalny

text: During the 2019 Moscow City Duma election Navalny supported independent candidates, most of whom were not allowed to participate in the elections, which led to mass street protests. In July 2019, Navalny was arrested, first for ten days, and then, almost immediately, for 30 days. On the evening of 28 July, he was hospitalised with severe damage to his eyes and skin. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with an "allergy," although this diagnosis was disputed by Anastasia Vasilieva, an ophthalmologist who previously treated Navalny after a chemical attack by an alleged protester in 2017. Vasilieva questioned the diagnosis and suggested the possibility that Navalny's condition was the result of "the damaging effects of undetermined chemicals". On 29 July 2019, Navalny was discharged from hospital and taken back to prison, despite the objections of his personal physician who questioned the hospital's motives. Supporters of Navalny and journalists near the hospital were attacked by the police and many were detained. In response, he initiated the Smart Voting project.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny campaigned against the vote on constitutional amendments that took place on 1 July, calling it a "coup" and a "violation of the constitution". He also said that the changes would allow President Putin to become "president for life". After the results were announced, he called them a "big lie" that did not reflect public opinion. The reforms include an amendment allowing Putin to serve another two terms in office (until 2036), after his ends.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2008, Navalny invested 300,000 rubles in stocks of 5 oil and gas companies: Rosneft, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, and Surgutneftegas, thus becoming an activist shareholder. As such, he began to aim at making the financial assets of these companies transparent. This is required by law, but there are allegations that high-level managers of these companies are involved in theft and resisting transparency. Other activities deal with wrongdoings by Russian police, such as Sergei Magnitsky's case.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In November 2010, Navalny published confidential documents about Transneft's auditing. According to Navalny's blog, about 4 billion dollars were stolen by Transneft's leaders during the construction of the Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean oil pipeline. In December, Navalny announced the launch of the project, which seeks to bring to light corrupt practices in the government procurement process. The project takes advantage of existing procurement regulation that requires all government requests for tender to be posted online. Information about winning bids must be posted online as well. The name RosPil is a pun on the slang term "raspil" (wikt:ru:распил) (literally "sawing"), implying the embezzlement of state funds.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In May 2011, Navalny launched RosYama (literally "Russian Hole"), a project that allowed individuals to report potholes and track government responses to complaints. In August, Navalny published papers related to a scandalous real estate deal between the Hungarian and Russian governments. According to the papers, Hungary sold a former embassy building in Moscow for US$21 million to an offshore company of Viktor Vekselberg, who immediately resold it to the Russian government for US$116 million. Irregularities in the paper trail implied collusion. Three Hungarian officials responsible for the deal were detained in February 2011. It is unclear whether any official investigation was conducted on the Russian side.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In February 2012, Navalny concluded that Russian federal money going to Ramzan Kadyrov's Chechen Interior Ministry was being spent "in a totally shadowy and fraudulent way." In May, Navalny accused Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov of corruption, stating that companies owned by Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov had transferred tens of millions of dollars to Shuvalov's company, allowing Shuvalov to share in the profit from Usmanov's purchase of the British steel company Corus. Navalny posted scans of documents to his blog showing the money transfers. Usmanov and Shuvalov stated the documents Navalny had posted were legitimate, but that the transaction had not violated Russian law. "I unswervingly followed the rules and principles of conflict of interest," said Shuvalov. "For a lawyer, this is sacred". In July, Navalny posted documents on his blog allegedly showing that Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, owned an undeclared business in the Czech Republic. The posting was described by the "Financial Times" as Navalny's "answering shot" for having had his emails leaked during his arrest in the previous month.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In August 2018, Navalny alleged that Viktor Zolotov stole at least US$29 million from procurement contracts for the National Guard of Russia. Shortly after his allegations against Zolotov, Navalny was imprisoned for staging protests in January 2018. Subsequently, Viktor Zolotov published a video message on 11 September challenging Navalny to a duel and promising to make "good, juicy mincemeat" of him.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In March 2017, Navalny published the investigation "He Is Not Dimon to You", accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption. The authorities either ignored the accusation or argued that it was made by a "convicted criminal" and not worth comment. On 26 March, Navalny organised a series of anti-corruption rallies in cities across Russia. In some cities, the rallies were sanctioned by authorities, but in others, including Moscow and Saint Petersburg, they were not allowed. The Moscow police said that 500 people had been detained, but according to the human-rights group OVD-Info, 1,030 people were detained in Moscow alone, including Navalny himself. On 27 March, he was fined 20,000 rubles minimum for organising an illegal protest, and jailed for 15 days for resisting arrest.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 19 January 2021, two days after he was detained by Russian authorities upon his return to Russia, an investigation by Navalny and the FBK was published accusing President Vladimir Putin of using fraudulently obtained funds to build a massive estate for himself near the town of Gelendzhik in Krasnodar Krai, in what he called "the world's biggest bribe". The estate was first reported on in 2010 after the businessman Sergei Kolesnikov, who was involved in the project, gave details about it. According to Navalny, the estate is 39 times the size of Monaco, with the Federal Security Service (FSB) owning 70 square kilometers of land around the palace, and the estate cost over 100 billion rubles ($1.35 billion) to construct. It also showed aerial footage of the estate via a drone, and a detailed floorplan of the palace that Navalny and the FBK said was given by a contractor, which was compared to photographs from inside the palace that were leaked onto the Internet in 2011. Using the floorplan, computer-generated visualisations of the palace interior were also shown.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: This investigation also detailed an elaborate corruption scheme allegedly involving Putin's inner circle that allowed Putin to hide billions of dollars to build the estate. Navalny's team also said that it managed to confirm reporting about Putin's alleged lovers Svetlana Krivonogikh and Alina Kabaeva. Navalny's video on YouTube garnered over 20 million views in less than a day, and over 92 million after a week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a press conference called the investigation a "scam" and said that citizens should "think before transferring money to such crooks".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 30 July 2012, the Investigative Committee charged Navalny with embezzlement. The committee stated that he had conspired to steal timber from Kirovles, a state-owned company in Kirov Oblast, in 2009, while acting as an adviser to Kirov's governor Nikita Belykh. Investigators had closed a previous probe into the claims for lack of evidence. Navalny was released on his own recognizance but instructed not to leave Moscow.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny described the charges as "weird" and unfounded. He stated that authorities "are doing it to watch the reaction of the protest movement and of Western public opinion […] So far they consider both of these things acceptable and so they are continuing along this line". His supporters protested before the Investigative Committee offices.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In April 2013 Loeb & Loeb LLP issued "An Analysis of the Russian Federation's prosecutions of Alexei Navalny", a paper detailing Investigative Committee accusations. The paper concludes that "the Kremlin has reverted to misuse of the Russian legal system to harass, isolate and attempt to silence political opponents".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The Kirovles trial commenced in the city of Kirov on 17 April 2013. On 18 July, Navalny was sentenced to five years in jail for embezzlement. He was found guilty of misappropriating about 16 million rubles' ($500,000) worth of lumber from a state-owned company. The sentence read by the judge Sergey Blinov was textually the same as the request of the prosecutor, with the only exception that Navalny was given five years, and the prosecution requested six years.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Later that evening, the Prosecutor's Office appealed Navalny and Ofitserov jail sentences, arguing that until the higher court affirmed the sentence, the sentence was invalid. The next morning, the appeal was granted. Navalny and Ofitserov were released on 19 July, awaiting the hearings of the higher court. The prosecutor's requested decision was described as "unprecedented" by experts.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The prison sentence was suspended by a court in Kirov on 16 October 2013, still being a burden for his political future.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 23 February 2016 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia had violated Navalny's right to a fair trial, and ordered the government to pay him 56,000 euros in legal costs and damages.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 16 November 2016 Russia's Supreme Court overturned the 2013 sentence, sending the verdict back to the Leninsky District Court in Kirov for review.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 8 February 2017 the Leninsky district court of Kirov repeated its sentence of 2013 and charged Navalny with a five-year suspended sentence. Navalny announced that he will pursue the annulment of the sentence that clearly contradicts the decision of ECHR.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2008 Oleg Navalny made an offer to Yves Rocher Vostok, the Eastern European subsidiary of Yves Rocher between 2008 and 2012, to accredit Glavpodpiska, which was created by Navalny, with delivering duties. On 5 August, the parties signed a contract. To fulfill the obligations under the agreement, Glavpodpiska outsourced the task to sub-suppliers, AvtoSAGA and Multiprofile Processing Company (MPC). In November and December 2012, the Investigating Committee interrogated and questioned Yves Rocher Vostok. On 10 December, Bruno Leproux, general director of Yves Rocher Vostok, filed to the Investigative Committee, asking to investigate if the Glavpodpiska subscription company had damaged Yves Rocher Vostok, and the Investigative Committee initiated a case.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The prosecution claimed Glavpodpiska embezzled money by taking duties and then redistributing them to other companies for lesser amounts of money, and collecting the surplus: 26.7 million rubles ($540,000) from Yves Rocher Vostok, and 4.4 million rubles from the MPC. The funds were claimed to be subsequently legalised by transferring them on fictitious grounds from a fly-by-night company to Kobyakovskaya Fabrika Po Lozopleteniyu, a willow weaving company founded by Navalny and operated by his parents. Navalnys denied the charges. The brothers' lawyers claimed, the investigators "added phrases like 'bearing criminal intentions' to a description of regular entrepreneurial activity". According to Oleg Navalny's lawyer, Glavpodpiska did not just collect money, it controlled provision of means of transport, execution of orders, collected and expedited production to the carriers, and was responsible before clients for terms and quality of executing orders.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Yves Rocher denied that they had any losses, as did the rest of the witnesses, except the Multiprofile Processing Company CEO Sergei Shustov, who said he had learned about his losses from an investigator and believed him, without making audits. Both brothers and their lawyers claimed Alexei Navalny did not participate in the Glavpodpiska operations, and witnesses all stated they had never encountered Alexei Navalny in person before the trial.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Following the imputed violation of travel restrictions, Navalny was placed under house arrest and prohibited from communicating with anyone other than his family, lawyers, and investigators on 28 February 2014. Navalny claimed the arrest was politically motivated, and he filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. On 7 July, he declared the complaint had been accepted and given priority; the court compelled the Government of Russia to provide answers to a questionnaire.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The home arrest, in particular, prohibited usage of the internet; however, new posts were released under his social media accounts after the arrest was announced. A 5 March post claimed the accounts were controlled by his Anti-Corruption Foundation teammates and his wife Yulia. On 13 March his LiveJournal blog was blocked in Russia, because, according to the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), "functioning of the given web page breaks the regulation of the juridical decision of the bail hearing of a citizen against whom a criminal case has been initiated". Navalny's associates started a new blog, navalny.com, and the LiveJournal blog was eventually abolished, with the last post published on 9 July.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The home arrest was eased a number of times: On 21 August Navalny was allowed to communicate with his co-defendants; a journalist present in the courthouse at the moment confirmed Navalny was allowed to communicate with "anyone but the Yves Rocher case witnesses". On 10 October, his right to communicate with the press was confirmed by another court, and he was allowed to make comments on the case in media (Navalny's plea not to prolong the arrest was, however, rejected). On 19 December, he was allowed to mail correspondence to authorities and international courts. Navalny again pleaded not to prolong the arrest, but the plea was rejected again.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The verdict was announced on 30 December 2014. Both brothers were found guilty of fraud against MPK and Yves Rocher Vostok and money laundering, and were convicted under Articles 159.4 §§ 2 and 3 and 174.1 § 2 (a) and (b) of the Criminal Code. Alexei Navalny was given 3 years of suspended sentence, and Oleg Navalny was sentenced to 3 years in prison and was arrested after the verdict was announced; both had to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles and a compensation to the Multiprofile Processing Company (MPK) of over 4 million rubles. In the evening, several thousand protesters gathered in the center of Moscow. Navalny broke his home arrest to attend the rally and was immediately arrested by the police and brought back home.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Both brothers filed complaints to the European Court of Human Rights: Oleg's was communicated and given priority; Alexei's was reviewed in the context of the previous complaint related to this case and the Government of Russia had been "invited to submit further observations". The second instance within the country confirmed the verdict, only releasing Alexei from the responsibility to pay his fine. Both prosecutors and defendants were not satisfied with this decision.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 17 October 2017 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Navalny's conviction for fraud and money laundering "was based on an unforeseeable application of criminal law and that the proceedings were arbitrary and unfair." The Court found that the domestic court's decisions had been arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable. ECHR found the Russian courts' decisions violated articles 6 and 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights. On 15 November 2018, the Grand Chamber upheld the decision.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: After the Yves Rocher case, Navalny had to pay a compensation of 4.4 million rubles. He declared the case was "a frame up", but he added he would pay the sum as this could affect granting his brother's parole. On 7 October 2015, Alexei's lawyer announced the defendant willingly paid 2.9 million and requested an installment plan for the rest of the sum. The request was granted, except the term was contracted from the requested five months to two, and a part of the sum declared paid (900,000 rubles; arrested from Navalny's banking account) was not yet received by the police; the prosecutors declared that may happen because of inter-process delays.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Later that month, Kirovles sued Navalny for the 16.1 million rubles' declared pecuniary injury; Navalny declared he had not expected the suit, as Kirovles did not initiate it during the 2012–2013 trial. On 23 October, a court resolved the said sum should be paid by the three defendants. The court denied the defendants' motion 14.7 million had already been paid by that point; the verdict and the payment sum were justified by a ruling by a Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Navalny declared he could not cover the requested sum; he called the suit a "drain-dry strategy" by authorities.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In late December 2012 Russia's federal Investigative Committee asserted that Allekt, an advertising company headed by Navalny, defrauded the Union of Right Forces (SPS) political party in 2007 by taking 100 million rubles ($3.2 million) payment for advertising and failing to honor its contract. If charged and convicted, Navalny could be jailed for up to 10 years. "Nothing of the sort happened—he committed no robbery", Leonid Gozman, a former SPS official, was quoted as saying. Earlier in December, "the Investigative Committee charged […] Navalny and his brother Oleg with embezzling 55 million rubles ($1.76 million) in 2008–2011 while working in a postal business". Navalny, who denied the allegations in the two previous cases, sought to laugh off news of the third inquiry with a tweet stating "Fiddlesticks […]".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In April 2020, Yandex search engine started artificially placing negative commentary about Navalny on the top positions in its search results for his name. Yandex declared this was part of an "experiment" and returned to presenting organic search results.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny alleged that Russian billionaire and businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin was linked to a company called Moskovsky Shkolnik (Moscow schoolboy) that had supplied poor quality food to schools which had caused a dysentery outbreak. In April 2019, Moskovsky Shkolnik filed a lawsuit against Navalny. In October 2019, the Moscow Arbitration Court ordered Navalny to pay 29.2 million rubles. Navalny said that "Cases of dysentery were proven using documents. But it's us that has to pay." Prigozhin was quoted by the press service of his catering company Concord Management and Consulting on 25 August 2020 as saying that he intended to enforce a court decision that required Navalny, his associate Lyubov Sobol and his Anti-Corruption Foundation to pay 88 million rubles in damages to the Moskovsky Shkolnik company over a video investigation.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: By 2019 Navalny had won six complaints against Russian authorities in the ECHR for a total of €225,000.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 20 August 2020 Navalny fell ill during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow and was hospitalised in the Emergency City Clinical Hospital No. 1 in Omsk (), where the plane had made an emergency landing. The change in his condition on the plane was sudden and violent, and video footage showed crewmembers on the flight scurrying towards him as he screamed loudly. Later, he said that he was not screaming from pain, but from the knowledge that he was dying.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Afterwards, his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said that he was in a coma and on a ventilator in the Omsk hospital. She also said that since he arose that morning, Navalny had consumed nothing but a cup of tea, acquired at the airport. It was initially suspected that something was mixed into his drink, and physicians stated that a "toxin mixed into a hot drink would be rapidly absorbed". The hospital said that he was in a stable but serious condition. Although staff initially acknowledged that Navalny had probably been poisoned, after numerous police personnel appeared outside Navalny's room, the medical staff was less forthcoming. The Omsk hospital's deputy chief physician later told reporters that poisoning was "one scenario among many" being considered.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: A plane was sent from Germany to evacuate Navalny from Russia for treatment at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, even though the doctors treating him in Omsk initially declared he was too sick to be transported, they later released him. On 24 August, the doctors in Germany made an announcement, confirming that Navalny had been poisoned with a cholinesterase inhibitor.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Ivan Zhdanov, chief of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, said that Navalny could have been poisoned because of one of the foundation's investigations. On 2 September, the German government announced that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, from the same family of nerve agents that was used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter. International officials said that they had obtained "unequivocal proof" from toxicology tests, and have called on the Russian government for an explanation. On 7 September, German doctors announced that he was out of the coma. On 15 September, Navalny's spokeswoman said that Navalny would return to Russia. On 17 September, Navalny's team said that traces of the nerve agent used to poison Navalny was detected on an empty water bottle from his hotel room in Tomsk, suggesting that he was possibly poisoned before leaving the hotel. On 23 September, Navalny was discharged from hospital after his condition had sufficiently improved. On 6 October OPCW confirmed presence of cholinesterase inhibitor from the Novichok group in Navalny's blood and urine samples.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 14 December a joint investigation by "The Insider" and Bellingcat in co-operation with CNN and Der Spiegel was published, which implicated agents from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in Navalny's poisoning. The investigation detailed a special unit of the FSB, which specialises in chemical substances, and the investigators then tracked members of the unit, using telecom and travel data. According to the investigation, Navalny was under surveillance by a group of operatives from the unit for 3 years and there may have been earlier attempts to poison Navalny. In an interview with Spanish newspaper "El País", Navalny said that "It is difficult for me to understand exactly what is going on in [Putin's] mind. … 20 years of power would spoil anyone and make them crazy. He thinks he can do whatever he wants."


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 21 December 2020 Navalny released a video showing him impersonating a Russian security official and speaking over the phone with a man identified by some investigative news media as a chemical weapons expert named Konstantin Kudryavtsev. During the call, he revealed that the poison had been placed on Navalny's clothing, particularly in his underwear, and that Navalny would have died if not for the plane's emergency landing and quick response from an ambulance crew on the runway.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In January 2021 "Bellingcat", "The Insider" and "Der Spiegel" linked the unit that tracked Navalny to other deaths, including activists Timur Kuashev in 2014 and Ruslan Magomedragimov in 2015, and politician Nikita Isayev in 2019. In February, another joint investigation found that Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was followed by the same unit before his suspected poisonings.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The European Union, United Kingdom and United States responded to the poisoning by imposing sanctions on senior Russian officials.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: <mapframe width=300 height=200 zoom=3 latitude=54.3 longitude=25.3 text="Approximate aircraft route of flight DP936 taken by Alexei Navalny, on 17 January 2021, showing its deviation.">


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 17 January 2021 Navalny returned to Russia by plane from Germany, arriving at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow after the flight was diverted from Vnukovo Airport. At passport control, he was detained. The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) confirmed his detention and said that he would remain in custody until the court hearing. Prior to his return, the FSIN had said that Navalny might face jail time upon his arrival in Moscow for violating the terms of his probation by leaving Russia, saying it would be "obliged" to detain him once he returned; in 2014, Navalny received a suspended sentence in the "Yves Rocher case", which he called politically motivated and in 2017, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Navalny was unfairly convicted. Amnesty International declared Navalny to be a prisoner of conscience and called on the Russian authorities to release him. A court decision on 18 January ordered the detention of Navalny until 15 February for violating his parole. A makeshift court was set up in the police station where Navalny was being held. Another hearing would later be held to determine whether his suspended sentence should be replaced with a jail term. Navalny described the procedure as "ultimate lawlessness" and called on his supporters to take to the streets. Human Rights Centre Memorial recognised Navalny as a political prisoner. The next day, while in jail, an investigation by Navalny and the FBK was published accusing President Vladimir Putin of corruption. The investigation and his arrest led to mass protests across Russia beginning on 23 January 2021.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: A Moscow court on 2 February 2021 replaced Navalny's three and a half-year suspended sentence with a prison sentence, minus the amount of time he spent under house arrest, meaning he would spend over two and half years in a corrective labour colony. The verdict was condemned by the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and others as well as the EU. Immediately after the verdict was announced, protests in a number of Russian cities were held and met with a harsh police crackdown. Navalny later returned to court for a trial on slander charges, where he was accused of defaming a World War II veteran who took part in a promotional video backing the constitutional amendments last year. The case was launched in June 2020 after Navalny called those who took part in the video "corrupt lackeys" and "traitors". Navalny called the case politically motivated and accused authorities of using the case to smear his reputation. Although the charge is punishable by up to two years in prison if proven, his lawyer said that Navalny cannot face a custodial sentence because the law was changed to make it a jailable offence after the alleged crime had taken place.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The European Court of Human Rights ruled on 16 February 2021 that the Russian government should release Navalny immediately, with the court saying that the resolution was made in "regard to the nature and extent of risk to the applicant's life". Navalny's lawyers had applied to the court for an "interim measure" for his release on 20 January 2021 after his detention. However Russian officials indicated that they would not comply with the decision. Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko called the measure a "flagrant intervention in the operation of a judicial system of a sovereign state" as well as "unreasonable and unlawful", claiming that it did not "contain any reference to any fact or any norm of the law, which would have allowed the court to take this decision". In December 2020, a series of laws were also passed and signed that gave the constitution precedence over rulings made by international bodies as well international treaties. A few days later, a Moscow court rejected Navalny's appeal and upheld his prison sentence, however it reduced his sentence by six weeks after deciding to count his time under house arrest as part of his time served. Another court convicted Navalny on slander charges against the World War II veteran, fining him 850,000 rubles ($11,500).


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In February 2021 Amnesty International stripped Navalny of "prisoner of conscience" status, due to lobbying about videos and pro-nationalist statements he made in the past that allegedly constitute hate speech. The designation was reinstated in May 2021: Amnesty international stated that the withdrawal of the "prisoner of conscience" designation had been used as a pretext by the Government of the Russian Federation to further violate Navalny's human rights.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was reported on 28 February 2021 to have recently arrived at the Pokrov correctional colony in Vladimir Oblast, a prison where Dmitry Demushkin and Konstantin Kotov were also jailed. In early March 2021, the European Union and United States imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials in response to Navalny's poisoning and imprisonment.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In March 2021 Navalny in a formal complaint accused authorities of torture by depriving him of sleep, where authorities consider him a flight risk. Navalny told lawyers that guards wake him up eight times a night announcing to a camera that he is in his prison cell. A lawyer of Navalny said that he is suffering from health problems, including a loss of sensation in his spine and legs, and that prison authorities denied Navalny's requests for a civilian physician, claiming his health was "satisfactory". On 31 March 2021, Navalny announced a hunger strike to demand proper medical treatment. On 6 April 2021, six doctors, including Navalny's personal physician, Anastasia Vasilyeva, and two CNN correspondents, were arrested outside the prison when they attempted to visit Navalny whose health significantly deteriorated. On 7 April 2021, Navalny's attorneys claimed he had suffered two spinal disc herniations and had lost feeling in his hands, prompting criticism from the U.S. government. Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International accused Vladimir Putin of slowly killing Alexei Navalny through torture and inhumane treatment in prison. He also complained that he was not allowed to read newspapers or have any books including a copy of the Quran that he planned to study.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 17 April 2021, it was reported that Navalny was in immediate need of medical attention. Navalny's personal doctor Anastasia Vasilyeva and three other doctors, including cardiologist Yaroslav Ashikhmin, asked prison officials to grant them immediate access, stating on social media that "our patient can die any minute", due to an increased risk of a fatal cardiac arrest or kidney failure "at any moment". Test results obtained by Navalny's lawyers showed heightened levels of potassium in the blood, which can bring on cardiac arrest, and sharply elevated creatinine levels, indicating impaired kidneys. Navalny's results showed blood potassium levels of 7.1 mmol; blood potassium levels higher than 6.0 mmol (millimoles) per liter usually require immediate treatment. Later that night, an open letter, addressed to Putin and open for Russian citizens to sign, was signed and published by 11 politicians representing several regional parliaments, demanding an independent doctor be allowed to visit Navalny, and for a review and cancellation of all of his criminal cases. "We regard what is happening in relation to Navalny as an attempt on the life of a politician, committed out of personal and political hatred," said the letter, "You, the President of the Russian Federation, personally bear responsibility for the life of Alexey Navalny on the territory of the Russian Federation, including in prison facilities – [you bear this responsibility] to Navalny himself, to his relatives, and to the whole world." Among the signatories were chairman of the Pskov regional branch of the Yabloko party, the deputy of the regional assembly Lev Schlosberg, the deputy from Karelia, the ex-chairman of Yabloko Emilia Slabunova, and the deputy of the Moscow City Duma Yevgeny Stupin.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The following day, his daughter called on Russian prison authorities to let her father be checked by doctors in a tweet written from Stanford University, where she is a student. Prominent celebrities such as J.K. Rowling and Jude Law also addressed a letter to Russian authorities asking to provide Navalny with proper medical treatment. U.S. president Joe Biden called his treatment "totally unfair" and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the Kremlin had been warned "that there will be consequences if Mr. Navalny dies." The European Union's head diplomat Josep Borrell stated that the organisation held the Russian government accountable for Navalny's health conditions. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also expressed her concern for his health. However, Russian authorities rebuked such concerns by foreign countries. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russian prison officials are monitoring Navalny's health, not the president.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 19 April 2021 Navalny was moved from prison to a hospital for convicts, according to the Russian prison service, for "vitamin therapy". On 23 April 2021, Navalny announced that he was ending his hunger strike on advice of his doctors and as he felt his demands had been partially met. his newspapers were still being censored as articles were cut out.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 16 April 2021 the Moscow prosecutor office requested the Moscow City Court to designate organisations linked to Navalny including the FBK and his headquarters as extremist organisations, claiming: "Under the disguise of liberal slogans, these organisations are engaged in creating conditions for the destabilisation of the social and socio-political situation." In response, Navalny aide Leonid Volkov stated: "Putin has just announced full-scale mass political repression in Russia."


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 26 April 2021 Moscow's prosecutor office ordered Navalny's network of regional offices, including those of the FBK, to cease its activities, pending a court ruling on whether to designate them as extremist organisations. His ally Leonid Volkov explained that it will limit many of the group's activities as prosecutors seek to label the Foundation as "extremists". The move was condemned by Germany as well as Amnesty International, which, in a statement, said: "The objective is clear: to raze Alexei Navalny's movement to the ground while he languishes in prison." On 29 April 2021, Navalny's team announced that the political network would be dissolved, in advance of a court ruling in May expected to designate it as extremist. According to Volkov, the headquarters would be transformed into independent political organisations "which will deal with investigations and elections, public campaigns and rallies". On the same day, his allies said that a new criminal case had been opened against Navalny, for allegedly setting up a non-profit organisation that infringed on the rights of citizens. The next day, the leader of Team 29, Ivan Pavlov, who also represents Navalny's team in the extremism case, was detained in Moscow. On 30 April, the financial monitoring agency added Navalny's regional campaign offices to a list of "terrorists and extremists." On 20 May, the head of the Russian prison system and Navalny's ally Ivan Zhdanov reported that Navalny had "more or less" recovered and that his health was generally satisfactory. On 7 June, Navalny was returned to prison after fully recovering from the effects of the hunger strike.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 9 June 2021 Navalny's political network, including his headquarters and the FBK, were designated as extremist organisations and liquidated by the Moscow City Court. Vyacheslav Polyga, judge of Moscow City Court, upheld the administrative claim of the prosecutor of Moscow city Denis Popov and, rejecting all the petitions of the defense, decided to recognise Anti-Corruption Foundation as extremist organisation, to liquidate it and to confiscate its assets; similar decision had been taken against Citizens' Rights Protection Foundation; the activity of the Alexei Navalny staff was prohibited (case No.3а-1573/2021). Case hearing was held in camera because, as indicated by advocate Ilia Novikov, the case file including the text of the administrative claim was classified as state secret. According to advocate Ivan Pavlov, Navalny was not the party to the proceedings and the judge refused to give him such status; at the hearing, the prosecutor stated that defendants are extremist organisations because they want the change of power in Russia and they promised to help participants of the protest with payment of administrative and criminal fines and with making a complaints to the European Court of Human Rights. On 4 August 2021, First Appellate Ordinary Court in Moscow upheld the decision of the court of first instance (case No.66а-3553/2021) and this decision entered into force that day. On 28 December 2021, it was reported that Anti-Corruption Foundation, Citizens' Rights Protection Foundation and 18 natural persons including Alexei Navalny filed a cassation appeals to the Second Cassation Ordinary Court. On 25 March 2022, the Second Cassation Ordinary Court rejected all cassation appeals and upheld the judgements of lower courts (case No.8а-5101/2022).


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In October 2021, Navalny said that the Russian prison commission designated him as a "terrorist" and "extremist", but that he was no longer regarded as a flight risk. In January 2022, Russia added him and his aides to the "terrorists and extremists" list. On 28 June 2022, Navalny lost his appeal on being designated as "extremist" and "terrorist".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In February 2022 Alexei Navalny faced an additional 10 to 15 years in prison in a new trial on fraud and contempt of court charges. The charges alleged that he stole $4.7m (£3.5m) of donations given to his political organisations and insulted a judge. He was tried in a makeshift courtroom in the corrective colony at which he was imprisoned. Amnesty International independently analysed the trial materials calling the charges "arbitrary" and "politically motivated".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 21 February 2022, prosecution witness Fyodor Gorozhanko refused to testify against Navalny in the trial, stating that investigators had "pressured" him to testify to the information they wanted and that he did not believe Navalny had committed any crimes. On 24 February, during his trial, Navalny condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began that day and asked the court to include his statement to the trial's protocol. He said that it would "lead to a huge number of victims, destroyed futures, and the continuation of this line of impoverishment of the citizens of Russia." He called the war a distraction to the population to "divert their attention from problems that exist inside the country".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 22 March 2022, Navalny was found guilty of contempt of court and embezzlement and given a 9-year sentence in a maximum-security prison; he was also ordered to pay a fine of 1.2 million rubles. Amnesty International described the trial as a "sham".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 17 May 2022, Navalny opened an appeal process against the sentence; the court said the process would resume on 24 May after Navalny requested to postpone the hearing to have a family meeting before being transferred. On 24 May, the Moscow City Court upheld the judgement of the court of first instance.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 31 May 2022, Navalny said that he was officially notified about new charges of extremism brought against him, in which he was facing up to an additional 15 years in prison.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In mid-June 2022, Navalny was transferred to the maximum security prison IK-6 in Melekhovo, Vladimir Oblast.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 11 July 2022, Navalny announced the relaunch of his Anti-Corruption Foundation as an international organization with an advisory board including his wife Yulia Navalnaya, Guy Verhofstadt, Anne Applebaum, and Francis Fukuyama; Navalny also stated that the first contribution to Anti-Corruption Foundation International would be the Sakharov Prize ($50,000) that was awarded to him.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 7 September 2022, Navalny said that he had been placed in solitary confinement for the fourth time in just over a month, after just being released. He linked his recent treatment to his attempts to establish a labour union in his penal colony and his "6000" list of individuals he has called to be sanctioned. The next day, he said that his attorney-client privilege was revoked with prison authorities accusing him of continuing to commit crimes from prison.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 4 October 2022, allies of Navalny said they were relaunching his regional political network to fight the mobilization and war.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On November 17 2022 the New York Times reported that Navalny was now in permanent solitary confinement. Infractions besides the attempt to start a labour union among the prisoners were that he did not button his collar, did not clean the prison yard well enough, and that he addressed a prison official by his military rank rather than his patronymic.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In October 2010 Navalny was the winner of an online poll for the mayor of Moscow, held by "Kommersant" and "Gazeta.Ru". He received about 30,000 votes, or 45%, with the closest rival being "Against all candidates" with some 9,000 votes (14%), followed by former First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Boris Nemtsov with 8,000 votes (12%) out of a total of about 67,000 votes.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The reaction to Navalny's actual mayoral election result in 2013, where he came second, was mixed: "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" declared, "The voting campaign turned a blogger into a politician", and following an October 2013 Levada Center poll that showed Navalny made it to the list of potential presidential candidates among Russians, receiving a rating of 5%, Konstantin Kalachev, the leader of the Political Expert Group, declared 5% was not the limit for Navalny, and unless something extraordinary happened, he could become "a pretender for a second place in the presidential race". On the other hand, "The Washington Post" published a column by Milan Svolik that stated the election was fair so the Sobyanin could show a clean victory, demoralising the opposition, which could otherwise run for street protests. Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated on 12 September, "His momentary result cannot testify his political equipment and does not speak of him as of a serious politician".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: When referring to Navalny, Putin never actually pronounced his name in public, referring to him as a "mister" or the like; Julia Ioffe took it for a sign of weakness before the opposition politician, and Peskov later stated Putin never pronounced his name in order not to "give [Navalny] a part of his popularity". In July 2015, Bloomberg's sources "familiar with the matter" declared there was an informal prohibition from the Kremlin for senior Russian officials from mentioning Navalny's name. Peskov rejected the assumption there is such a ban; however, in doing so, he did not mention Navalny's name either.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In a 2013 Levada Center poll, Navalny's recognition among the Russian population stood at 37%. Out of those who were able to recognise Navalny, 14% would either "definitely" or "probably" support his presidential run.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The Levada Center also conducted another survey, which was released on 6 April 2017, showing Navalny's recognition among the Russian population at 55%. Out of those who recognised Navalny, 4% would "definitely" vote for him and 14% would "probably" vote for him in the presidential election. In another poll carried out by the same pollster in August 2020, 4% of respondents said that they trusted Navalny the most (out of a list of politicians), an increase from 2% in the previous month.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: According to polls conducted by the Levada Center in September 2020, 20% of Russians approve Navalny's activities, 50% disapprove, and 18% had never heard of him. Out of those who were able to recognise Navalny, 10% said that they have "respect" for him, 8% have sympathy and 15% "could not say anything bad" about him. 31% are "neutral" towards him, 14% "could not say anything good" about him and 10% dislike him.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: During and after the Kirovles trial, a number of prominent people expressed support to Navalny and/or condemned the trial. The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called it "proof that we do not have independent courts". Former Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin stated that it was "looking less like a punishment than an attempt to isolate him from social life and the electoral process". It was also criticised by novelist Boris Akunin, and jailed Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who called it similar to the treatment of political opponents during the Soviet era.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist LDPR, called the verdict "a direct warning to our 'fifth column'", and added, "This will be the fate of everyone who is connected with the West and works against Russia". A variety of state officials condemned the verdict. United States Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf stated that the United States was "very disappointed by the conviction and sentencing of opposition leader Aleksey Navalniy". The spokesperson for European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton said that the outcome of the trial "raises serious questions as to the state of the rule of law in Russia". Andreas Schockenhoff, Germany's Commissioner for German-Russian Coordination, stated, "For us, it's further proof of authoritarian policy in Russia, which doesn't allow diversity and pluralism". "The New York Times" commented in response to the verdict that "President Vladimir Putin of Russia actually seems weak and insecure".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The verdict in the case of Yves Rocher caused similar reactions. According to Alexei Venediktov, the verdict was "unfair", Oleg Navalny was taken "hostage", while Alexei was not jailed to avoid "furious reaction" from Putin, which was caused by the change of measure of restraint after the Kirovles trial. A number of deputies appointed by United Russia and LDPR found the verdict too mild. Experts interviewed by the BBC Russian Service expressed reactions close to the political positions their organisations generally stand on. The spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini stated the same day that the sentence was likely to be politically motivated.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Public opinion varied over time: According to Levada Center, 20% of people thought the Kirovles case had been caused by an actual violation of law, while 54% agreed the rationale beyond the case was his anti-corruption activity in May 2011. In May 2013, the shares of people who held these opinions were 28% and 47%, correspondingly; however, in September 2013, the shares were 35% and 45%. The organisation suggested this had been caused by corresponding coverage in media. By September 2014, the percentages had undergone further changes, and equaled 37% and 38%. The center also stated the share of those who found the result of another criminal case against him was unfair and Navalny was not guilty dropped from 13% in July 2013 to 5% in January 2015, and the number of those who found the verdict was too tough also fell from 17% to 9%. The share of those who found the verdict to be either fair or too mild was 26% in July 2013, and has exceeded 35% since September 2013.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In February 2011, in an interview with the radio station "finam.fm", Navalny called the main Russian party, United Russia, a "party of crooks and thieves". In May 2011, the Russian government began a criminal investigation into Navalny, widely described in media as "revenge", and by Navalny himself as "a fabrication by the security services". Meanwhile, "party of crooks and thieves" became a popular slogan among the opposition.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: His views about Russian nationalism have evolved. In 2011, Navalny stated that he considered himself a "nationalist democrat". He previously participated in the "Russian march" from 2006, a parade uniting Russian nationalist groups of all stripes, and was one of the co-organisers of the 2011 march. Navalny has also called for ending federal subsidies to the "corrupt" and "ineffective" governments of Chechnya and other republics part of the North Caucasus.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2007, he released several anti-immigration videos, in one of which he advocated the deportation of migrants. According to Leonid Volkov, Navalny later regretted making the 2007 video. In 2013, after ethnic riots in a Moscow district took place, which were sparked by a murder committed by a migrant, Navalny sympathised with the anti-immigration movement and commented that ethnic tensions and crimes are inevitable because of failing immigration policies by the state. However, he later said that "The basis of my approach is that you have to communicate with nationalists and educate them… I think it's very important to explain to them that the problem of illegal immigration is not solved by beating up migrants but by other, democratic means".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2017, Leonid Volkov, Navalny's chief of staff, said that Navalny's team supports the legalisation of same-sex marriage.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was described as "shar[ing] the establishment view that Russia is entitled to a say in the domestic affairs of its post-Soviet neighbors," and has supported the expansion of the Eurasian Economic Union. He also called on Russia to recognize and militarily support Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008, following the Russo-Georgian War.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2016, Navalny spoke against the Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, believing that there are internal problems in Russia that need to be dealt with rather than to get involved in foreign wars.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In early 2012, Navalny stated on Ukrainian TV, "Russian foreign policy should be maximally directed at integration with Ukraine and Belarus… In fact, we are one nation. We should enhance integration". During the same broadcast Navalny said "No one wants to make an attempt to limit Ukraine's sovereignty".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In March 2014, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Navalny urged further sanctions against officials and businessmen linked to Putin and proposed his own list of sanctions, saying that previous US and EU sanctions were "mocked". In October 2014, Navalny suggested the fate of Crimea should be resolved by holding a new and fair referendum. Navalny also said that Putin's government should stop "sponsoring the war" in Donbas. Navalny has strongly criticised Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine: "Putin likes to speak about the 'Russian world' but he is actually making it smaller. In Belarus, they sing anti-Putin songs at football stadiums; in Ukraine they simply hate us. In Ukraine now, there are no politicians who do not have extreme anti-Russian positions. Being anti-Russian is the key to success now in Ukraine, and that is our fault".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2018, after the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, an event labeled as the ending of more than three centuries of Russian spiritual and temporal control of the dominant faith in Ukraine, Navalny tweeted: "What took centuries to create has been destroyed by Putin and his idiots in four years… Putin is the enemy of the Russian World."


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In February 2022, Navalny compared the recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic by Russia to when Soviet leaders deployed troops to Afghanistan in 1979, describing both events as a distraction to the population from real issues. He said that he believes that while Putin won't allow Ukraine to develop, Russia will pay the same price, and that Putin needed to be removed to save Russia.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 2 March 2022, Navalny urged Russian citizens to stage daily protests against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying Russians should not be a "nation of frightened cowards" and calling Putin "an insane little tsar".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 5 April 2022, referring to war crimes that took place in Ukraine, Navalny said the "monstrosity of lies" in the Russian state media "is unimaginable. And, unfortunately, so is its persuasiveness for those who have no access to alternative information." He tweeted that "warmongers" among Russian state media personalities "should be treated as war criminals. From the editors-in-chief to the talk show hosts to the news editors, [they] should be sanctioned now and tried someday." The next month, Navalny called the invasion a "stupid war" based on lies.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny criticized the 2022 Russian mobilization. He said during a court hearing on 21 September: "I don’t understand one thing. The army has a million people, Rosgvardia has 350,000 people, the Interior Ministry has another million and a half or two million people, and the Federal Penitentiary Service is full of people. Why are they drafting civilians?" In another court hearing two days later, Navalny said: "You won't shut my mouth with your ShIZO [punishment cell]. This is a crime against my country. I don't relate to it, and I won't be silent. I hope that everyone else who hears me will not be silent about it. Because what's happening now is much more terrible than any 12 or 112 days in a ShIZO [punishment cell]. This is a historic crime, this is involving hundreds of thousands of people in this crime".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was named "Person of the Year 2009" by Russian business newspaper "Vedomosti" and by stock exchange observer "Stock in Focus".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 22 April 2010, Navalny was awarded the "Finance" magazine prize in the nomination "for protecting the rights of minority shareholders".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was a World Fellow at Yale University's World Fellows Program, aimed at "creating a global network of emerging leaders and to broaden international understanding" in 2010.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2011, "Foreign Policy" magazine named Navalny to the FP Top 100 Global Thinkers, along with Daniel Domscheit-Berg and Sami Ben Gharbia of Tunisia, for "shaping the new world of government transparency". "FP" picked him again in 2012. He was listed by "Time" magazine in 2012 as one of the world's 100 most influential people, the only Russian on the list. In 2013, Navalny came in at No. 48 among "world thinkers" in an online poll by the UK magazine "Prospect".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2015, Alexei and Oleg Navalny were chosen to receive the "Prize of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience 2015". According to the Platform's statement, "The Members of the Platform have voted this year for the Navalny brothers, in recognition of their personal courage, struggle and sacrifices for upholding fundamental democratic values and freedoms in the Russian Federation today. By the award of the Prize, the Platform wishes to express its respect and support to Mr. Oleg Navalny whom the Platform considers a political prisoner, and to Mr. Alexei Navalny for his efforts to expose corruption, defend political pluralism and opposition to the mounting authoritarian regime in the Russian Federation".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In June 2017, Navalny was included "Time" magazine's list of the World's 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. In December 2017, he was named "Politician of the Year 2017" by "Vedomosti".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by multiple Norwegian members of parliament. An Internet petition to the Nobel Committee in support of Mr. Navalny's candidacy has been signed by over 38,000 people.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Following Navalny's imprisonment in February 2021, the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom awarded Navalny with the Boris Nemtsov Prize for Courage. A scenic viewpoint of Alexei Navalny was also set in Prague in direct view from the Russian Embassy, near Boris Nemtsov Square in front of the Russian Embassy and the Anna Politkovskaya Promenade.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 8 June 2021, Navalny's daughter accepted the Moral Courage Award at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on behalf of her father. Navalny dedicated the prize to political prisoners. In September 2021, Navalny was included in "Time" magazine's list of the 100 most influential people. This was his second appearance on the list, having previously been included in 2012.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In September 2021, he was awarded the Knight of Freedom Award conferred by the Casimir Pulaski Foundation.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In October 2021, he received the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament's annual human rights prize. David Sassoli, the President of the European Parliament, announced that the award was to recognise that Navalny "has fought tirelessly against the corruption of Vladimir Putin's regime. This cost him his liberty and nearly his life".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Later that same year, he also received a German prize for his efforts in sustaining freedom of expression – the M100 Media Award.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny is married to Yulia Navalnaya and has two children, daughter Daria, currently an undergraduate student at Stanford University, and son Zakhar. From 1998 until 2021, he lived primarily in a three-room apartment in Maryino District in southeast Moscow. Some of these years at his southeast Moscow residence were spent while under house arrest.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was originally an atheist, but has since become an member of the Russian Orthodox Church. He has said that turning to the Orthodox church has made him feel a "part of something large and universal."


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 27 January 2021, Navalny was again arrested as he was returning to Russia, after having had to leave the country for medical treatment in Germany for a poisoning attempt against his life that had recently occurred in Russia. He has since remained incarcerated, and, , is housed in the IK-2 penal colony. Navalny was listed by Amnesty International (AI) as a prisoner of conscience in May 2021, meaning that AI holds that Navalny's incarceration is primarily due to his political beliefs.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull Racing, also simply known as Red Bull or RBR and currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH, the other being Scuderia AlphaTauri (previously Scuderia Toro Rosso). The Red Bull Racing team has been managed by Christian Horner since its formation in 2005.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull had Cosworth engines in 2005 and Ferrari engines in 2006. The team used engines supplied by Renault between 2007 and 2018 (from 2016 to 2018, the Renault engine was re-badged "TAG Heuer" following the breakdown in the relationship between Red Bull and Renault in ). During this partnership, they won four successive Drivers' and Constructors' Championship titles from to , becoming the first Austrian team to win the title. The team began using Honda engines in . The works Honda partnership culminated in 2021 following Red Bull driver Max Verstappen's World Drivers' Championship victory, with Verstappen also winning the championship in 2022. Honda left the sport officially after 2021, but will continue to supply complete engines from Japan to the team under Red Bull Powertrains branding until the end of 2025.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The current Red Bull team can trace its origins back to the Stewart Grand Prix outfit that made its debut in . Jackie Stewart sold his team to the Ford Motor Company late in 1999, and Ford made the decision to rebrand the team Jaguar Racing with little subsequent success over the next five years.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The Jaguar Racing Formula One constructor and racing team was put up for sale in September 2004 when Ford decided it could "no longer make a compelling business case for any of its brands to compete in Formula One". Red Bull, an energy drinks company, agreed its purchase of Jaguar Racing on the final day of the sale, 15 November 2004. BBC Sport reported that Ford asked bidders for a symbolic US$1 in return for a commitment to invest US$400 million in the team over three Grand Prix seasons. The team continued to have access to the Cosworth engine developed for their 2005 chassis, and the operation continued under the new title. Christian Horner was installed as the new team boss and lined up David Coulthard and Christian Klien to drive for the team.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull Racing was not the start of Red Bull's involvement in Formula One, as they sponsored Sauber from 1995 to 2004. After buying a Formula One team of its own, Red Bull ended its long-term partnership with the Swiss team. Red Bull also runs a young drivers programme, Red Bull Junior Team, whereby Red Bull sponsors promising young drivers. High-profile drivers who have received this backing include Enrique Bernoldi, Christian Klien, Patrick Friesacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. Red Bull also sponsors many drivers and teams competing in the Formula 2 Championship, Formula One's "feeder" series.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, reportedly tried to recruit former Formula One driver and BMW Motorsport chief (and fellow Austrian) Gerhard Berger to help guide the team through its debut season. However, this was never realised. For , the chassis was christened the RB1. Red Bull Racing used Cosworth engines in its maiden year due to the ease of continuing with the engine Jaguar Racing used.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Former McLaren driver David Coulthard led the team. Coulthard was chosen for his experience, considered ideal to help lead the fledgling team. For the second car, Red Bull shared the drive between two of its young sponsored drivers: Christian Klien, who had driven for Jaguar in and 2004 F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi. At first, it was announced that Klien and Liuzzi would swap driving duty every four races, but by the end of the season, Liuzzi had appeared only four times.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull's first year in Formula One was a massive success compared to its predecessors, Jaguar Racing. They were 6th in the Constructors' Championship for most of the season, only beaten by the fast-improving BAR Hondas at the end of the season. In a single season, they amassed more points than Jaguar had in and 2004. Coulthard, after a poor 2003 and 2004 with McLaren, was a revelation for the team while Klien showed that he had vastly improved from 2004. Overall they scored 34 points; 24 for Coulthard, 9 for Klien and 1 for Liuzzi. Red Bull was a consistent point and occasional podium challenger for most of their debut season.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: American driver Scott Speed, who rose through the ranks in the American equivalent of Red Bull Junior Team, Red Bull Driver Search, was Red Bull Racing's third driver in 2005 for the Canadian and United States Grands Prix. Speed was attractive to Red Bull because of his American nationality which would raise the profile of both Red Bull and Formula One in America, a market where the sport has traditionally struggled to make an impact.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: On 23 April 2005, the team announced a deal to utilise customer Ferrari engines in . This coincided with a rule change mandating the use of V8 engines, making it likely that both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari would use the same specification engine. Red Bull Racing continued to use Michelin tyres, rather than the Bridgestones used by Ferrari.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: On 8 November 2005, Red Bull Racing hired Adrian Newey, the highly successful McLaren technical director.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: On 15 December 2005, the team's second car, the Red Bull RB2, hit the track for the first time. David Coulthard completed a handful of laps of the Silverstone circuit in England, and declared the new car was a "sexy looking thing". In early testing Red Bull was plagued with cooling problems and overheating of car components.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the opening race of the 2006 season in Bahrain, Christian Klien qualified eighth (ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault and both BMWs). Coulthard had problems when he flat-spotted a tyre fighting with Nick Heidfeld, and finished 10th; the cooling problems returned when his Ferrari engine expired on the slowing down lap, forcing a grid penalty for the following race. In Malaysia, Coulthard made up several places from the back of the grid but was forced to retire with hydraulic problems, while Klien had an opening lap incident with Kimi Räikkönen and after pitting for repairs also retired with hydraulic failure. Coulthard got a point in Australia after Scott Speed was penalised for passing him under the yellow flags. The following races were marred with retirements and lowly finishes.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Coulthard finished 3rd at Monaco, the team's first podium finish. Team boss Christian Horner said before the race that if one of his cars were to finish on the podium, he would jump into a swimming pool at the track naked. He ended up jumping into the pool wearing only a red cape. Coincidentally both Stewart Grand Prix and Jaguar Racing, the team's predecessors, also scored their maiden podiums at that race.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Coulthard scored a point at Montreal, passing Jenson Button in the closing stages of the race despite starting in last place due to an engine change that warranted a grid penalty. Klien also fared well, driving the second RB2 to 11th position. At the Klien retired along with eight other cars including Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed on the first lap after a series of first corner incidents. Coulthard finished 7th.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The team finished 7th in the FIA Constructors' Championship, with 16 points, five points ahead of the struggling Williams team. Coulthard (14 pts) finished in 13th place in the drivers' standings, the departed Klien (2 pts) was classified in 18th position. Klien's replacement, Robert Doornbos, failed to score any points.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: saw the debut of the Adrian Newey designed RB3. After lengthy discussions over Red Bull Racing's obligation to continue to use Ferrari engines for 2007, the team announced on 31 August 2006 they would use customer Renault engines for the 2007 season, the Ferrari contract being passed to Scuderia Toro Rosso.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The team announced on 7 August 2006 that it had signed Mark Webber to drive alongside Coulthard for the 2007 season, replacing Christian Klien who ended his association with the team. Klien was replaced by Robert Doornbos for the last three races of 2006. Doornbos became the team's non-racing third driver for 2007. In 2007 Red Bull officially became an Austrian constructor by receiving an Austrian licence, though continued to operate from the same base in Britain.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Despite qualifying in 7th place for his home race in Melbourne, Mark Webber finished down in 13th due to a persistent problem with a fuel flap that closed as the pit mechanics went to put the fuel in and when it was opened it remained open until the next pit stop greatly increasing drag and decreasing airflow over the rear wing. It was worse for Coulthard however, who crashed heavily with Williams's Alexander Wurz in the late stages of the race. Malaysia was more of the same for Webber, while Coulthard retired with brake problems. However, in Bahrain the team showed improving pace, and Coulthard and Webber were running 7th (with Coulthard starting from the back) and 8th respectively before reliability problems put both out of the race in quick succession. However, in testing at Barcelona Coulthard has set the fastest lap in the new configuration of the circuit (since superseded by Felipe Massa). Coulthard secured the team's first points by scoring a gritty 5th with a faulty gearbox on his closing laps in Spain, while Webber was dogged with hydraulic problems all weekend, eventually retiring from the race after failing to set a competitive lap in qualifying. The performance hike the team experienced at the Catalan track left both drivers and team optimistic about their future results, with reliability troubles being as much a focus as the increase of their already competitive pace.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull Racing further strengthened their technical department by hiring Geoff Willis as Technical Director on 17 July 2007.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: After this, the drivers seemed to have a stroke of good luck during the unpredictable and exciting 2007 European Grand Prix in which Webber finished 3rd, his second career podium. Coulthard backed it up with a strong 5th which was made all the more impressive by the fact he started 20th on the grid after the team mistakenly kept him in the pits too long resulting in him not being able to complete another qualifying lap.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull had a strong end to the season. Webber came close to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, but he was involved in a crash with Sebastian Vettel. During the same race, Coulthard again demonstrated his wet-weather ability and finished 4th.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the Chinese Grand Prix, Red Bull had a competitive qualifying session. Coulthard achieved 5th on the grid, along with Webber in 9th.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull continued with the same drivers in and had numbers 9 and 10 on their cars after finishing 5th in the 2007 Constructors' Championship. Red Bull presented the RB4 at the Jerez circuit on 16 January and announced that Sébastien Buemi would be their test and reserve driver for 2008 combining it with his GP2 drive with the Arden International GP2 team.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: After Webber retired from the opening round he went on to score 5 consecutive points finishes. Coulthard had a tougher start to the 2008 campaign due to poor qualifying, but a 3rd place at Canada gave Red Bull their first podium since the 2007 European Grand Prix. At the half-way mark, the team had notched up 24 points – the same as their total for the 2007 season – and were locked in a fierce battle with Toyota and Renault for 4th in the Constructors' Championship. The team had also resolved the reliability problems that had dogged them the previous year.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: However, as the season progressed, Red Bull failed to keep up with their competitors. Red Bull scored just 5 points in the last 10 races, and Toro Rosso – the Red Bull 'B team' – had overhauled their total by the season's end and won the rain-affected , becoming the first Red Bull-owned team to win a race. This fact led many to claim that the Renault engine powering the Red Bull was lacking in horsepower compared to the Ferrari and Mercedes engines. For the 2009 season, Renault was allowed to equalise the difference in engine power compared to their competitors after the single-year freeze in engine development from 2007.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Webber notched up his 50th top ten grid position in 107 Grands Prix at the . Coulthard announced his retirement from Formula One at the and, despite hopes for a strong final home Grand Prix, was forced to retire on the first lap, which also occurred at his final race in Brazil where he retired at the second corner.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: For , Red Bull Racing launched their new RB5 chassis virtually on 8 February utilising a 3D computer-generated video narrated by Sebastian Vettel. The physical launch of the car was held the next day. The team secured their first pole position at the with Sebastian Vettel, posting the fastest time with just a single qualifying lap in Q3. Mark Webber qualified in third on the grid. The next day, Vettel won, with Webber second. Vettel's victory, in rain-soaked conditions, marked Red Bull Racing's first-ever win (although the team's predecessor, Stewart GP, had won the 1999 European Grand Prix courtesy of Johnny Herbert).


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In the next race at Bahrain after qualifying 3rd, Vettel finished second behind Jenson Button and collected another eight world championship points. At the , Webber and Vettel finished third and fourth respectively, after having qualified fifth and second. In Turkey, Webber and Vettel finished second and third respectively. At the the car had new upgrades and Sebastian Vettel won after qualifying on pole position, ending championship leader Jenson Button's run of four straight wins. The team scored another 1–2 at the with Mark Webber (who scored his first win despite being given a drive-through penalty earlier on) leading home Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber also took his second Formula One victory at the . Another 1–2 finish for the team was achieved at the season-ending , this time with Vettel finishing ahead of Webber.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Vettel finished second in the Drivers' Championship with 84 points, 11 behind Jenson Button. Mark Webber finished fourth with 69.5 points. The team also finished second in the Constructors' Championship with 153.5 points, 18.5 points behind Brawn GP.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: For the 2010 season, the team retained both Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, with Renault remaining the engine supplier.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the opening round, the , Vettel took pole position while Webber qualified sixth. Vettel led the race until he slowed due to a spark-plug failure, while the two Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton overtook Vettel. Vettel finished fourth, and Webber finished eighth.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In Australia, Vettel again took pole, with Webber in the second position. Vettel led the race and again looked set to take the race, but he reported a vibration of one of the front wheels on his car. The problem seemed to subside, and the decision was made to keep him on the track rather than pit him. A few corners later, the problem struck again, and Vettel ran off the track and subsequently retired, due to brake failure. Webber got wheelspin off the line and gave up one position on the run to the first right-handed corner. Subsequent errors led to him dropping a few more places, and near the end of the race, he crashed with Hamilton, destroying his front wing. He pitted to get a new one, and finished ninth, scoring two points.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In Malaysia, Webber took pole with Vettel in the third position. Vettel managed to pass both Nico Rosberg and Webber before the first corner, leading for all bar two laps en route to his and the team's first victory of the year. Webber led the other two laps and eventually finished second, with the team moving up into third in the Constructors' Championship.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The team once again scored pole position in China, when Vettel managed to set a faster time than Webber, who completed the front row. Webber overtook Vettel at the start, but both were overtaken by Fernando Alonso, who was later given a penalty for a false start. The race was then hit by rain and Jenson Button made the best strategy call and won the race, Vettel finished sixth whilst Webber was eighth. This left Vettel and Webber fifth and seventh in the Drivers' Championship respectively, and the team in third in the Constructors' Championship.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the the two drivers were the other way around, with Webber on pole position and Vettel second on the grid. Webber won the race without too much trouble. Vettel, however, suffered brake problems and dropped to fourth – this became third when Hamilton had a puncture and crashed from second on the penultimate lap.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Webber took pole position again at the ; Vettel qualified third behind Renault's Robert Kubica, but overtook him at the start. Webber won the race and Vettel finished in second place.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: After the race, Webber was leading the championship after being in seventh after China, with Vettel in second place (this was only by countback though because both drivers were on 78 points). The team was leading the Constructors' Championship.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the , Webber again took pole position, taking the team's run of pole positions to seven consecutive races, with Vettel third on the grid. Following the pit stops, Webber and Vettel were running first and second until lap 40, when Vettel attempted to overtake Webber, leading to a collision between the two. Webber finished third, while Vettel was forced to retire. Neither driver took 100% of responsibility while senior members of the team alluded to the thought that Webber had not provided "enough room" for Vettel.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In Canada, Hamilton took pole position – the first non-Red Bull pole of the year. Webber and Vettel were second and third respectively in qualifying before the pair finished fourth and fifth in the race. The team admitted that it was a track that the car struggled with.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the in Valencia, Spain, Vettel won from pole position, leading every lap of the race. Webber collided with the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen, flipping his Red Bull car into a somersault before landing and crashing into a tyre barrier.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the at Silverstone, Vettel took pole position but after a bad start, he got a puncture and subsequently dropped to the back of the field, eventually finishing seventh. Webber, who started from second, won after leading for the entire race.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Vettel qualified in pole position in front of the two Ferraris in Germany, but finished his home race behind the pair in third place. Webber qualified in fourth but finished in sixth behind both the McLaren cars. During the race Felipe Massa controversially let Fernando Alonso past into the lead to win the race after a message from the team. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "That was the most blatant team order ever". He also criticised Ferrari for not letting their drivers race each other.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the in Budapest, Vettel again took pole position and was leading until the safety car came out. He was second behind Webber, who started second and was then given a drive-through penalty for exceeding the ten-car maximum distance between himself and the safety car. This cost him second place and he finished third. Webber won the race after using his super-soft tyres for over half the race to build up a lead to keep him ahead after his stop. Webber won with Fernando Alonso ten seconds behind in second place.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The saw Webber claim pole position, despite McLaren and Ferrari having a straight-line speed advantage. At the start, the anti-stall device on Webber's car came on, dropping the Australian to 5th. Vettel, meanwhile in 3rd (after starting 4th) was chasing Jenson Button for 2nd place when he collided with the Brit at the Bus Stop. After sensing an inside passing opportunity, Vettel attempted to quickly change direction while under braking, causing the car to spear into the side of Button's McLaren. Button retired from the race, while Vettel was able to pit for repairs. He subsequently received a drive-through penalty for his action and suffered a rear tyre puncture while attempting to overtake Vitantonio Liuzzi, finishing 15th. Webber was able to capitalise on the DNF of Button and Alonso, as well as a mistake by Renault's Robert Kubica, during his pit stop, and finish 2nd, behind race winner Hamilton.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the in Monza, Webber had a bad start and was 9th from 4th place on the grid after the first lap. Vettel had brake binding problems for a short period, around lap 20, and he too dropped back a place but was then back on the pace. Webber was held back by Nico Hülkenberg in the latter part of the race, until he passed, and finished 6th. Vettel stayed out on soft tyres until the penultimate lap, doing better lap times than Webber and overtaking Mark when he pitted, to finish fourth.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the in Yeongam, Vettel gave the team its 19th pole position, while Webber started second, making it a Red Bull front row. On lap 18, Webber spun and hit the wall, and hit the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, causing both drivers to retire. Worse was to come for the team when Vettel's engine failed just 10 laps from the finish, while he was in the lead, and the German retired and handed his lead to Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari. Red Bull had suffered their first double retirement since the 2008 Australian Grand Prix and as a result, Webber lost his championship lead and Vettel's engine failure prevented him from leading the championship for the first time in 2010, but the team still led the Constructors' Championship.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the in São Paulo, Red Bull Racing became Constructors' Champion for the first time after Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished 1–2 in the race, enough to finish ahead of McLaren and Ferrari. In doing so Red Bull became the first Austrian team to win the Formula One Constructors' Championship. Christian Horner stated that the main goal had been achieved and that now his remaining aim was to win the Drivers' Championship and put the icing on the cake of Red Bull's year. In some other teams, the drivers would have been told to change positions, to improve better placed Mark Webber's chances to win the drivers' title in the last race, but the team insisted that the faster driver should win the race, and kept being reluctant to give any orders of the kind "let your teammate pass" to their drivers.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In the final race at Abu Dhabi, Sebastian Vettel won the race and the Formula One Drivers' Championship. Red Bull finished the year with a total of 9 Grand Prix victories with five going to Sebastian Vettel and four going to Mark Webber. Red Bull claimed a total of 15 pole positions with 10 going to Vettel and five going to Webber. The team scored six fastest laps three scored by Vettel and three scored by Webber. Horner also praised the sportsmanship of both drivers stating that they conducted themselves in a well orderly and mannered fashion.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull Racing was officially promoted to Renault's full-works partnership status, receiving free engines as Renault's full-works constructor team was rebranded to Lotus Renault GP. Both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were retained by the team for the season, as was engine supplier Renault. Vettel defended his world title – becoming the ninth driver to do so – after winning eleven of the season's races, and also achieved 15 pole positions during the season, breaking Nigel Mansell's record from the season. Webber finished the season in third place in the championship, taking one victory, in the final race of the season in Brazil. The team also defended their respective title, as they finished the season with 650 points in the Constructors' Championship, 153 points ahead of the next closest team, McLaren. Nissan's premium automotive brand Infiniti joined Red Bull Racing as an official partner for the 2011 and 2012 seasons which saw Infiniti logos appear on the race car, drivers overalls and team kit.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: For the 2012 season, Red Bull retained the duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber from the previous three years. Webber was signed on a one-year contract extension while Vettel continued under his current multi-year agreement, ending at the end of 2014. Vettel won the Drivers' Championship for a third consecutive time in 2012 making him the youngest triple World Champion, surpassing Ayrton Senna.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The team was renamed Infiniti Red Bull Racing for the 2013 season following the announcement that premium automotive brand Infiniti had become Title Partner and Vehicle Performance Partner of the team. Infiniti Red Bull continued with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber for the fifth consecutive season. As with 2012, Webber was signed on a single year contract while Vettel continued to honour his current multi-year agreement.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In Australia, the first race of the season, Vettel placed the new RB9 on pole position but struggled in the race finishing in 3rd place behind title rivals of 2012, Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso whilst teammate Webber finished in sixth place. In Malaysia the team went better with Vettel again putting the RB9 on pole, but unlike in Australia winning the race, albeit under heavy controversy. Vettel won the race after disobeying team orders, and so despite the 1–2 result, the race was overshadowed by Vettel's actions. In China, the third race of the season, Vettel qualified in 9th whilst Webber qualified 14th after an issue with his fuel pick up led him to have to stop the car on the track. Infiniti Red Bull failed to give the FIA a 1-litre fuel sample, therefore, placing Webber at the back of the grid. The downfall of his performance was matched when a collision and then a dislodged wheel nut led to Webber not completing the race. Vettel finished in 4th, retaining his lead in the World Championship. In Bahrain, the fourth race of the season, Vettel qualified in second place behind Nico Rosberg. Webber qualified fifth but after a 3 place grid penalty started the race in seventh. In the race, Webber failed to improve on his qualifying position finishing 7th whilst his teammate won the race in a dominating fashion. After the fourth race of the season, Infiniti Red Bull finished the first round of flyaway races leading both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. Sebastian Vettel extended his contract with Infiniti Red Bull Racing until the end of 2015, despite interests in racing for Ferrari and Mercedes. At the , Mark Webber announced his retirement from Formula One at the end of the season, having signed a deal with Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship for 2014. It was then announced before the Italian Grand Prix that Daniel Ricciardo, the Toro Rosso driver, would replace Webber for the 2014 season, ending talk of Lotus's Kimi Räikkönen taking Webber's seat.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the , Vettel secured the team's 50th pole position, and 40th Grand Prix victory. At the , Vettel sealed the Drivers' Championship title, and in doing so, won the Constructors' Championship for Infiniti Red Bull Racing for the fourth consecutive year.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Infiniti Red Bull started the season with reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo who replaced Mark Webber after he had announced in 2013 that he would be moving to Porsche in the World Endurance Championship for 2014.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In pre-season testing, it became clear, not just from Red Bull, but other Renault teams that the Renault engine was very unreliable and down on power compared to the Ferrari and Mercedes engines. Renault struggled to get the new hybrid engine to function properly all through testing with the combustion engine, the kinetic recovery system, and the turbo all unable to work as one.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the , Ricciardo had qualified second on his first race for the team while Vettel qualified a rather distant 13th being at least 1.8 seconds off pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton. In the race itself, Ricciardo finished second while Vettel retired after just three laps due to a power unit failure. However, after the race, Ricciardo was disqualified for violating the FIA's new rule of capping fuel use at 100 kg per hour in each race. He thus lost his podium finish. Red Bull appealed this decision on 14 April but lost their case.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the Vettel qualified second while Ricciardo qualified fifth. On lap 49 Ricciardo had to retire due to a technical failure while Vettel went on to finish third and earn his first podium finish of the season. Ricciardo was hit with a ten-place grid penalty for the , due to an unsafe release by Red Bull at one of his pit stops. At the Ricciardo qualified third, but dropped to 13th due to his ten-place grid penalty from the previous week. Vettel qualified 11th. Ricciardo managed to finish fourth, obtaining his first championship points of the season. Vettel finished sixth. At the , under harsh weather conditions, Ricciardo qualified 2nd, with Vettel qualifying third. Ricciardo finished in 4th again, nearly 25 seconds ahead of his teammate Vettel, who finished 5th.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Ricciardo would go on to obtain the first podium finish in his career as a Formula One driver at the , after qualifying third, over a second behind polesitter Lewis Hamilton. Vettel did not participate in Q3 due to problems with his gearbox, which ultimately needed to be replaced, incurring a five-place grid penalty. Despite starting from the 15th position, Vettel managed to finish the race in 4th, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process. In Canada, Ricciardo won the race, achieving his first career victory in Formula One.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: After an with poor results, including Vettel's retirement, Christian Horner described the performance of the Renault engine as "unacceptable." He also mocked Renault in an interview with Servus TV by saying that "the big difference between Mercedes and Renault is that when a driver with a Mercedes engine pushes the overtake button his car goes faster. When our drivers, which have a Renault engine, push the button, the car stops!"


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Daniel Ricciardo returned for a second season with the team. At the previous year's , the team announced that Vettel would leave after the 2014 season. He was replaced by Daniil Kvyat for 2015, who had spent a single season with the junior Toro Rosso team.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: 2015 for Infiniti Red Bull was seen initially as a continuous resurgence for the team. It was expected from the progress Renault made with the engine in 2014 that in 2015 it would be close to the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Rosberg. However, it quickly became apparent that reliability, power, and drivability were all major issues that plagued the team through the season.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the Ricciardo qualified 7th while Kvyat qualified 13th. Kvyat failed to start the race due to a gearbox failure, whilst Ricciardo finished the race in sixth, a lap down from the race winner, Lewis Hamilton. The team scored their best finish in Hungary, where Ricciardo and Kvyat finished 2–3. Their only opportunity to win a race occurred at the , however, both of the team's drivers made some mistakes allowing both of the Mercedes cars to pass them. Lewis Hamilton won the race and, as a result, his third Formula One World Championship.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Come the end of the season, it was the first winless season for Infiniti Red Bull since 2008, and come seasons end, Red Bull wanted to end its partnership with Renault due to the lack of progress and confidence expressed by Renault. Red Bull would however be unable to agree to have another engine instead opting to run Renault engines for the 2016 season but rebadged as TAG-Heuer.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: They ended the season in fourth place on 187 points with Kvyat in seventh (95 points) and Ricciardo in eighth (92 points), their lowest finish position in seven years.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: For 2016, Red Bull Racing used Renault engines branded as TAG Heuer due to their public breakdown with Renault in 2015. Infiniti also departed as a main sponsor due to the Renault breakdown. The team announced on 17 March 2016, one day before the Australian Grand Prix weekend, that they had formed a new technology partnership with Aston Martin, for the new season.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: At the , Red Bull recorded their first podium of the season with Daniil Kvyat finishing third behind Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen traded places ahead of the , with Verstappen promoted to Red Bull Racing and Kvyat returning to Scuderia Toro Rosso. Verstappen eventually won the Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the youngest ever Grand Prix winner.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: 2016 in general was a much stronger season for Red Bull Racing than 2015, especially after Max Verstappen replaced Daniil Kvyat. This may be because Daniel Ricciardo was pushed much more by Verstappen than he was by Kvyat, Ricciardo stating he has learned from Verstappen's driving techniques to improve as a driver. Red Bull would go on to collect podium finishes with Max Verstappen in Austria and Silverstone, with Daniel Ricciardo in Monaco, Budapest and in Singapore, with both Verstappen and Ricciardo being on the podium in Germany and Malaysia. Daniel Ricciardo collected his 4th career victory in Malaysia after Lewis Hamilton's engine failure. Verstappen had challenged for the victory but was compromised due to an incident at the start between Vettel and Rosberg leading to Verstappen referring to Vettel as 'crazy'. This incident was the latest flare-up between Vettel and Verstappen after the two disagreed over a first corner collision at the Belgian Grand Prix which resulted in Max failing to score at a race where he started on the front row, outqualifying his teammate for only the 2nd time, in which a large number of Dutch fans had traveled to see him race.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Towards the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix Verstappen dropped to 14th after changing back to wet tyres. He then gained an incredible 11 places in the closing 16 laps finishing on the podium in third.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Red Bull Racing finished 2nd in the Constructors' Championship that year, with Daniel Ricciardo taking 3rd in the Drivers' Championship.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: In 2017, Red Bull Racing retained their 2016 driver line-up and continued using TAG Heuer-branded Renault engines. In the first race in Australia, Ricciardo retired on lap 25, in a weekend plagued with problems for him, while Verstappen finished 5th.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Verstappen suffered various reliability issues with the car, suffering three retirements due to the engine and one due to an electric problem at the . He was also involved in three first-lap collisions that ended in retirement.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The team won three races in ; Ricciardo won the after starting tenth, while Verstappen won the and the . Moreover, Verstappen and Ricciardo finished second and third at the . In the Drivers' Championship, Ricciardo finished fifth with 200 points and Verstappen sixth with 168 points. The team finished third in the Constructors' Championship with 368 points.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: Ricciardo and Verstappen were both retained by the team for the 2018 season. On 25 September 2017, it was announced that Aston Martin would become Red Bull Racing's title sponsor from 2018.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The team suffered a double retirement at the ; Ricciardo retired on lap 2 with an electrical issue, whilst Verstappen retired two laps later. Ricciardo then took the team's first win of the season at the following race, the , having started sixth on the grid. During the , both drivers crashed into each other at Turn 1. The team achieved a podium with Verstappen, during the securing the 3rd place, while Ricciardo achieved 5th place. At the Red Bull had a dominant car due to its highly efficient high down-force setup. Ricciardo scored a pole position, and despite running into an engine issue costing him power, he eventually won the race. This incident re-ignited the bad relationship with its engine manufacturer, Renault. Meanwhile, Verstappen crashed during free practice 3 and started from 20th on the grid, finishing the race in 9th place. This race also put an end to a streak of incidents for Verstappen. Monaco was also the last race that saw Daniel Ricciardo on the podium with Red Bull, with him parting ways with the team and joining rival team Renault at the end of the season.


title: Red Bull Racing

text: The European season saw consistent podiums and a good form, with Verstappen winning Red Bull's home race at the Red Bull Ring during the . The second half of the season saw great form from Verstappen and good development of the car, as Verstappen scored 6 out of 8 possible podiums, and was the driver which scored the most points following the 2018 World Champion Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo had a spree of mechanical issues and retirements during the second half of the season, with him getting 7 retirements in total and no podiums after the first six races coming to the end of the season. Verstappen won the from second after pole position was grabbed by his teammate, making it Red Bull's first front-row lock-out in the turbo-hybrid era.