Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, attends the 53rd St. Gallen Symposium in St. Gallen, Switzerland on May 3, 2024.
Jan Ellenzeller/Keystone via The Associated Press
Hide caption
Toggle caption
Jan Ellenzeller/Keystone via The Associated Press
A Russian court ordered the arrest of the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a hearing held without absenteeism on Tuesday as part of the Kremlin’s sweeping crackdown on the opposition.
Yulia Navalnaya, who lives abroad, faces arrest if she returns to Russia.
Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ruled for Navalnaya’s arrest on suspicion of ties to extremist groups.
Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main political rival, died in an Arctic prison in February while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he denied were politically motivated. Authorities said he fell ill after a walk but have not released details about Navalny’s death.
Navalny had been in Germany recovering from a nerve agent poisoning in 2020 that he blamed on the Kremlin, but was jailed after returning to Moscow in January 2021.
Navalnaya blamed Putin for her husband’s death and vowed to continue her work. Russian authorities have strongly denied any involvement in Navalnaya’s poisoning or death.
Ms Navalnaya mocked the court order on the social media platform X, saying it was Putin who should be prosecuted. Her spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said the court’s decision was a recognition of her “achievement”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Twitter that Ms Navalnaya was carrying out her husband’s wishes and denounced the Moscow court’s decision as an “arrest warrant that runs counter to the aspirations of freedom and democracy”.
Russian authorities have not disclosed the charges against Navalnaya, which appear to be related to their designation of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation as an extremist organisation after a 2021 court ruling outlawed the organisation and forced members of his entourage and team to leave Russia.
Several journalists have been jailed on similar charges in recent months in connection with their reporting on Navalny.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has intensified its crackdown on dissidents, independent journalists and ordinary Russians critical of Russia.
