A Russian court ordered the arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, during a hearing held in absentia on Tuesday as part of a broad Kremlin crackdown on dissent. Navalnaya, who currently resides abroad, faces arrest if she returns to Russia.
The Basmanny District Court in Moscow ruled to arrest Navalnaya on charges of alleged involvement in an extremist group.
Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in February in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges he condemned as politically motivated. Authorities claimed he fell ill after a walk but have provided no further details on his death.
Navalny was imprisoned upon his return to Moscow in January 2021 from Germany, where he had been recovering from a 2020 nerve agent poisoning, which he attributed to the Kremlin.
Navalnaya has accused Putin of her husband’s death and vowed to continue his work. Russian officials have vehemently denied any involvement in Navalny’s poisoning and death.
Navalnaya mocked the court’s order on social media platform X, asserting that Putin should be the one prosecuted. Her spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, described the court’s ruling as an acknowledgment of her “merits.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, also on X, praised Navalnaya for carrying on her husband’s legacy and condemned the Moscow court’s ruling as “an arrest warrant against the desire for freedom and democracy.”
Russian authorities have not specified the charges against Navalnaya. They appear to be linked to the designation of Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption as an extremist organization. The 2021 court ruling that outlawed Navalny’s group forced his close associates and team members to leave Russia.
In recent months, several journalists have been jailed on similar charges related to their coverage of Navalny.
The Kremlin’s crackdown on opposition activists, independent journalists, and critics has intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
