Russia issues arrest warrant for exiled opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny

She is one of the main opponents of the Russian president. Russia announced on Tuesday, July 9, that it had issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, accused of “participation in an extremist group”. The Basmanny Court in Moscow also ordered in absentia the pretrial detention of Alexei Navalny’s widow, who lives abroad after being forced into exile. “Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal. His place is in prison”reacted Yulia Navalnaya on X.

The opposition leader vowed to continue her husband’s fight after Alexei Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison in February. She has called on the opposition leader’s supporters not to lose hope and regularly denounces Russian power and the fate of dissidents in the country on social media.

Alexei Navalny’s organizations had been classified “extremists” and banned in 2021 by the Russian courts, and several of his collaborators were sentenced to prison. Alexei Navalny’s former right-hand man, Leonid Volkov, also in exile abroad, ironically welcomed the decision of the Russian courts. “A beautiful recognition of Yulia’s determination to continue Alexei’s fight”he wrote on X.