'I spit on you again': Russian billionaire renews tirade against Putin rival

The Russian billionaire and Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov has launched an embittered online attack on the anti-corruption campaigner and Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny.

Usmanov, who is currently trying to take full control of Arsenal, last week released an angry, personal video tirade, ending with the words: “I spit on you, Alexei Navalny.” On Wednesday he released a second video entitled “I spit on you again”.

Navalny, who has announced his intention to stand against Putin in presidential elections next year, made a video earlier this year accusing the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, of in effect receiving bribes from a number of businessmen, including Usmanov.

Usmanov has promised to take Navalny to court over the bribery allegations, which he denies, and has also begun an online offensive against the opposition politician.

In Usmanov’s first video, which was 12 minutes long, the billionaire spoke in a quiet, calm voice but with undisguised contempt and fury. He addressed Navalny using the informal Russian “you”, a mark of disrespect if not used among friends.

“Out of the two of us, you’re the criminal,” said Usmanov, referring to Navalny’s conviction in a court case most observers believed to be politically motivated.

Usmanov owns 30% of Arsenal, and recently had a $1.3bn (£1bn) bid for control of the club turned down. The businessman, born in Soviet Uzbekistan, spent six years in jail during the late Soviet period after a conviction he claims was politically motivated and which was later overturned.

In his latest video, Usmanov casts doubt on Navalny’s claims that the current Russian government is repressive. “You call out from every street corner that you are being persecuted, that the government is ruthless. Ruthless? You spent a whole day in jail. One night, as far as I know. You spent one night in jail, and I spent six years in jail, for nothing.”

In fact, Navalny spent 15 days in jail last month, one of several stints behind bars, after he was detained at a protest rally in late March that drew tens of thousands of Russians to the streets. Shortly after he was released, he was doused with green fluid by assailants in Moscow and left temporarily blind in one eye.

On Wednesday, a Moscow court jailed two of those detained at the protest for “assaulting” police officers. One of the protesters was sentenced to eight months in prison, the other 18 months.

The Kremlin is wary of Navalny’s ability to harness street anger and is unlikely to allow him on to the ballot next year. When travelling around the country to launch his presidential campaign, he has been insulted and assaulted by people he believes are sent by the authorities.

Usmanov, however, claimed Navalny’s anti-corruption investigations were born of jealousy. “I feel the terrible envy of a loser and failed businessman,” said Usmanov. He said he had paid huge amounts of taxes into the Russian budget, and also given a billion dollars to charity.

“I bought everything I own, including a lovely boat and a plane, because I live happily, unlike you.”

Usmanov also compared Navalny to Sharikov, a dog that takes on human form in Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel Heart of a Dog.

Navalny immediately posted both of Usmanov’s videos to his own YouTube channel, together with his own commentary on “the richest man in Russia and Britain, oligarch, and beginner video-blogger Alisher Usmanov”.

Navalny called on Usmanov to debate him, and said the businessman was just one of many people his Anti-Corruption Foundation was targeting. “Our main targets are those who take bribes, but we also want to punish those who give them, like you.”

A Moscow court is due to hear Usmanov’s libel case against Navalny next week.