wow, you clearly need to do some research...
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-protests-idUSBRE8570ZH20120608https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/07/22/meanwhile-in-russia-putin-passes-law-against-protests/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-signs-new-law-to-ban-undesirable-organisations-from-russia-10273199.htmli don't know how often i have to explain it to you but i'll try one last time hoping you'll read and think about it: obviously no one has a chance against putin in the upcoming elections. i would say that not even in perfectly legitimate and democratic elections anyone could beat him in the current climate.
the protests against corruption and putin's autocratic agenda are trying to get the movement on its feet so they at least can hope for the remote CHANCE of a fair shot... the duma and the federal subjects are DOMINATED by "united russia", by putin loyals - so claiming running for it and changing the system from within is the only way to go, trying to delegitimise navalny's organising of protests, is either incredibly naive and uninformed, or just willfully misrepresenting the reality of russian politics.
that's a nice pivot but it doesn't address the issue. drawing attention to the movement obviously doesn't change the law itself or "force" changes in russia's policies, but it emboldens those who are too afraid to speak up to join - shows them there are like-minded individuals out there and that there is hope in this massive swamp of corruption and oppression. same about international awareness: while it doesn't DIRECTLY impact russian politics, it still makes it harder for an authoritarian regime to outright deny there's an opposition and oppress it - and makes it less likely that the hundreds of arrested protesters just disappear.
like it or not, but the current sanctions ARE hurting russia and putin DOES care about international relations. not enough to shy away from unpopular and undemocratic measures if he feels he has to secure his power, but still enough to tell that he'd rather have good relations with the west than not.
international election observers WILL point out massive irregularities again and you can rest assured that while he will do his best to play it down, he'd rather not have them watching his dirty fingers.
concerning navalny himself, it's almost like you don't WANT to know the truth, it's almost like you WANT to smear him and blatantly ignore the positive thing he has done and the sacrifices he has made for democracy in russia.
also, he has already made a name for himself. if that cute little narrative of yours held any truth, he would have left russia in 2012 and stopped risking his freedom, health, and life. seriously, just 2 minutes of the most basic article about him would show you how utterly ridiculous that is...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_NavalnyI never said it was wrong to protest. I agree it is a good strategy to protest. I don't however agree that there should be illegal protests on national day, and doing stuff that will likely get you busted and unable to run for elections. Sure, he has no chance of winning the elections, but he can try to at least enter the Duma or weaken Putin's overwhelming parliamentary majority in order to reduce his power to change the constitution for example. He should keep working in the streets, but the priority should be also working in the Duma. Ever since he refused to accept his defeat in the Moscow elections (despite most experts agreeing that the results were pretty much legit) he has moved away from useful politics to these counter productive circus acts, which in the end have contributed to the opposition's declining results in subsequent elections.