Russia detains two allies of opposition leader Navalny
Duo held for questioning as part of crackdown by authorities and ‘could face extremism charges’
28 December 2021 - 11:28
byAnton Zverev
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Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia. Picture: REUTERS/SHAMIL ZHUMATOV
Moscow — Russia has detained two allies of jailed Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny, a prominent opposition activist said on Tuesday, adding that they could face extremism charges that carry lengthy prison terms.
Russian authorities have in recent months cracked down on groups affiliated with Navalny, 45, who is known as President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic. He is serving two-and-a-half years in prison for parole violations related to a fraud case he says was politically motivated.
In June, a Russian court ruled that Navalny’s anticorruption foundation was “extremist”.
Then, after his allies regrouped around a new network of organisations set up for Russia’s parliamentary election in September, authorities started investigating campaign staffers on the same extremism charges.
On Tuesday, state investigators detained the former heads of provincial election headquarters in the Siberian cities of Tomsk and Irkutsk for questioning, Leonid Volkov, a Navalny ally living in exile, wrote on messaging app Telegram.
Volkov said he had tried to persuade both activists, Kseniya Fadeyeva and Zakhar Sarapulov, to leave Russia, as he and a number of other dissidents have done, but they refused.
The Investigative Committee, the state body tasked with investigating crimes and pressing charges, could not immediately be reached for comment on the case.
Navalny was flown to Germany in 2020 for medical treatment after being poisoned in Siberia with what Western experts concluded was the military nerve agent Novichok.
The Russian government has denied it was behind the poisoning and rejected the experts’ findings — which prompted a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia — and accused the West of a smear campaign against it.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Russia detains two allies of opposition leader Navalny
Duo held for questioning as part of crackdown by authorities and ‘could face extremism charges’
Moscow — Russia has detained two allies of jailed Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny, a prominent opposition activist said on Tuesday, adding that they could face extremism charges that carry lengthy prison terms.
Russian authorities have in recent months cracked down on groups affiliated with Navalny, 45, who is known as President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic. He is serving two-and-a-half years in prison for parole violations related to a fraud case he says was politically motivated.
In June, a Russian court ruled that Navalny’s anticorruption foundation was “extremist”.
Then, after his allies regrouped around a new network of organisations set up for Russia’s parliamentary election in September, authorities started investigating campaign staffers on the same extremism charges.
On Tuesday, state investigators detained the former heads of provincial election headquarters in the Siberian cities of Tomsk and Irkutsk for questioning, Leonid Volkov, a Navalny ally living in exile, wrote on messaging app Telegram.
Volkov said he had tried to persuade both activists, Kseniya Fadeyeva and Zakhar Sarapulov, to leave Russia, as he and a number of other dissidents have done, but they refused.
The Investigative Committee, the state body tasked with investigating crimes and pressing charges, could not immediately be reached for comment on the case.
Navalny was flown to Germany in 2020 for medical treatment after being poisoned in Siberia with what Western experts concluded was the military nerve agent Novichok.
The Russian government has denied it was behind the poisoning and rejected the experts’ findings — which prompted a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia — and accused the West of a smear campaign against it.
Reuters
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