Russia announced on Tuesday that it had issued an arrest warrant for exiled opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February, accused of “participation in an extremist group.”
“Ioulia Borissovna [Navalnaïa] “evaded the preliminary investigation and was therefore put on the wanted list,” the press service of the Moscow courts reported on Telegram.
The Basmanny Court of Moscow also ordered in absentia the pre-trial detention of the opponent, who resides abroad.
“Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal. His place is in prison,” reacted Mme Navalnaya on X.
Yulia Navalnaya has vowed to take up the mantle of her husband, Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy, after his death in unclear circumstances in his Arctic prison in February 2024.
Continuing the movement of Mr. Navalny, she called on the opponent’s supporters not to lose hope and regularly denounces Russian power and the fate of dissidents in Russia on social networks.
Germany, where Ms Navalnaya resides, has deemed the arrest warrant issued by Russia to be undemocratic. It is an “arrest warrant against the desire for freedom and democracy,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz protested.
Mr Navalny’s organisations were classified as “extremist” 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 Russian justice system’s decision on Tuesday. “A beautiful recognition of Yulia’s determination to continue Alexei’s fight,” he wrote on X.
The crackdown in Russia in recent years has thrown almost all prominent opponents behind bars or driven them into exile abroad.
Thousands of ordinary Russians have also been arrested for protesting or criticizing the offensive in Ukraine, many of them receiving very harsh sentences.