Mediating Populist Discourse in Russia via YouTube: The Case of Alexey Navalny

These days, distinctive features of populism can be found not only in democratic Western societies, but also in Russia—both within the establishment and several opposition forces in the country. The latter refers to opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who regularly organises anti-government protests and produces investigative videos on YouTube targeting corrupt Russian officials and businesspeople. This chapter identifies the main frames of Navalny’s populist-style discourse on YouTube during his presidential campaign in 2017–2018, namely: “anti-corruptionism”, “elections”, “populism” itself, and the idea of “truth” and “ways to communicate it”. Navalny, as argued, remains one of the most popular opposition leaders in semi-authoritarian Russia due to a skilful combination of these frames under the populist umbrella in his rhetoric and digital instruments used to mediate it.