Russia adds jailed Kremlin critic Navalny to terrorist, extremist list
Moscow, Jan 25 (EFE).- Russia on Tuesday added jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to its list of “terrorists and extremists.”
The list, compiled by Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service, names individuals and companies that Moscow believes are involved in terrorist or extremist activities.
Navalny is currently serving a 2.5-year prison handed down on charges of breaching parole conditions during the time he spent in Germany receiving specialized medical treatment after his near-fatal nerve agent attack in Siberia in 2020, which the opposition leader claims was ordered by the Kremlin.
Several Navalny associates were added to the blacklist on Tuesday, including his former number two Lyubov Sobol, who has fled Russia, and Lilia Chanysheva, who managed his organization’s office in the city of Ufa.
A raft of Navalny aides, allies and associates of his now-banned Anti-Corruption Foundation have been added to Moscow’s terrorist and extremist list in recent years.
Navalny was arrested upon his return to Moscow from Germany in January last year and later ordered to serve a previously suspended sentence for an embezzlement conviction that he maintains was politically motivated.
The 2021 Sakharov Prize winner rose to fame as Russia’s most prominent critic of president Vladimir Putin and is the face of the country’s opposition, despite the fact he has been repeatedly blocked from running for office.
His arrest drew criticism from Western institutions and caused an outcry in his native Russia, where large protests ended with thousands of arrests.EFE
cae/jt
