Support of Alexei Navalny Vasilyeva first treated Alexei Navalny in 2017 after green dye was thrown into one of his eyes in 2017 by pro-
Russian government supporters. She subsequently reached out to Navalny for support after her mother, alongside other senior ophthalmologists, were fired from the First Moscow State Medical University in 2018. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation provided the doctors with free legal aid, and they were subsequently offered their jobs back. Vasilyeva later appeared on
RTVI and publicly stated her belief that Navalny was experiencing
organophosphate poisoning, and that doctors in Omsk had prevented her from seeing him for two days to stop her finding evidence of this. Vasilyeva subsequently founded the Alliance of Doctors (), an independent medical trade union, which became allied with
Navalny's Trade Union and the ACF. She later went on to ally the Alliance of Doctors with other opposition political parties, including the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation and
Yabloko. The Alliance of Doctors was founded to fight for fair wages and conditions for medical staff. In January 2021, during a
crackdown on supporters of Navalny following his arrest after returning to Russia from Germany, a video clip of Vasilyeva playing "
Für Elise" on her piano while her flat was raided by police went viral on social media. Vasilyeva went on to take part in a public protest calling on Navalny's release, and was subsequently placed under house arrest for breaching COVID-19 restrictions, though her arrest was subsequently reversed. On 18 February 2021, alongside several other doctors, Vasilyeva protested outside the
corrective colony where Navalny was being held in
Pokrov, requesting to treat Navalny in response to reports that he was suffering from back problems and numbness. The group were not permitted access to the prison. Vasilyeva arranged a mass rally outside the colony on 6 April 2021, during which she was detained. On 14 October, she was issued a one-year restriction from travelling outside Moscow, leaving her home at night, and attending mass gatherings, in response to her pro-Navalny protests. On 3 March 2021, the Doctors Alliance was declared a "
foreign agent" by the Russian government. In September 2021, Vasilyeva publicly broke ties with Navalny and the ACL, accusing
Leonid Volkov,
Ivan Zhdanov, and
Maria Pevchikh of having abandoned her and the Doctors Association in Russia after all three fled the country. Vasilyeva's comments were controversial, with some claiming she was put under pressure by
United Russia to criticise Navalny ahead of
legislative elections, comparing her to
Belarusian activist
Roman Protasevich, who spoke out in favour of the
Belarusian government after being detained by security forces.
COVID-19 pandemic Vasilyeva gained prominence as a vocal critic of the Russian government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vasilyeva accused the government of understating the severity of the pandemic, and of failing to implement the appropriate infrastructure to the Russian healthcare system to enable it to successfully manage the disease. On 2 April, she was detained at the border with
Novgorod Oblast while attempting to deliver PPE. She was charged with breaking quarantine restrictions in Moscow, and the following day received additional charges for refusing to leave her car while it was being towed, and for refusing arrest on that charge. Vasilyeva was made to pay fines for all three offences. == References ==