(London) Leonid Volkov, former right-hand man of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny who died in detention in February, and himself attacked in March in Lithuania, promised to “never give up” the fight against President Vladimir Putin despite the threats, according to extracts from an interview released on Saturday by the BBC.
Mr. Volkov, 43, reported in the interview, which is to be broadcast in full on Sunday, that the former Russian opposition leader had asked those close to him “to never give up and to continue the work… to defeat Putin and build the beautiful Russia of the future.”
Keeping this promise is “the only way to preserve his legacy, and to ensure that his sacrifice is not in vain,” Volkov said, interviewed by videoconference by the BBC.
This is his first television interview since the hammer attack on March 12 in front of his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the opponent lives in exile.
During this attack, an individual broke the window of his car and sprayed him with tear gas before hitting him with a hammer, he said. He had to be briefly hospitalized.
The message of this attack was “we know where you live, we can kill you, we are behind you”, he said.
The Polish authorities subsequently indicated that they had arrested and detained a Belarusian sponsor “working for the Russians” and the two perpetrators of the operation, of Polish nationality.
The attack against Mr. Volkov took place less than a month after the death on February 16 of Alexei Navalny in a penal colony in the Russian Arctic, where he was serving a 19-year sentence for “extremism”, and some days before the election which confirmed Vladimir Putin’s continued power.
Leonid Volkov, who was president of Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation until 2023, portrayed the opponent as “a true hero”.
His death is an “open wound”, and the Russian opposition will struggle to replace him, he admitted, even if the opponent’s widow, Yulia Navalnaïa, has shown herself to be a “new charismatic leader”.
He also called on Western countries to increase their support for Ukraine, and to increase “military, economic and political pressure” on Vladimir Putin, inaugurated in May for a fifth term.