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“The use of an international search tool against the opposition greatly discredits Russia’s participation in those instruments,” Gabrielius Landsbergis, head of Lithuanian diplomacy, told BNS.
Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė also says Russia’s ambition is a “reprehensible practice.”
“The use of international instruments to carry out persecutions for political reasons is a reprehensible practice. This raises doubts about the participation of the country, in this case Russia, in the organization,” A. Bilotaitė told BNS.
“It should be noted that the use of the world’s largest international criminal police organization – Interpol – for political purposes is prohibited by article 3 of the Constitution of this organization.” The organization is strictly prohibited from participating in any activity of a political, military nature religious or racial, “he said.
Russia announced Wednesday that it was seeking the arrest of a fellow opposition member A. Navalnas living in Lithuania, accusing him of treason the day before.
Volkov, who heads Navaln’s regional staff network, became an important voice in the opposition when other top figures were detained in Russia during the protests.
A spokeswoman for a Moscow court told AFP that investigators had called for Volkov to be arrested and that he had been included in the wanted list for several former Soviet countries, but not for Lithuania.
Russia’s investigative committee investigating serious crimes has previously said that Volkov was accused of using social media to encourage minors to participate in unauthorized demonstrations.
In Russia, incitement to demonstrate before persons under 18 years of age is punishable by up to three years in prison.
Volkov has vowed to keep working despite an arrest warrant issued the day after Russia called him and another of Navaln’s comrades “traitors” for asking the European Union to impose sanctions on people close to President Vladimir Putin.
During a video conference with the EU and other Western states on Monday, Volkov called for the introduction of “personal sanctions” on Russian billionaires to force the Kremlin to change its behavior.
Navalnas, 44, Putin’s most famous critic, returned to Russia from Germany on January 17, where he was treated with the nerve-paralyzing substance “Novičiok” created by Soviet scientists after his poisoning in August.
The opposition has blamed Russian special services and President Putin for the poisoning, but Russian authorities have denied the accusations.
Navaln was arrested as soon as he arrived at one of Moscow’s airports, and the move sparked mass demonstrations in many Russian cities for two weekends in a row, during which more than 10,000 people were detained by security forces. persons. Hundreds of them have been sentenced to prison, and several of Navaln’s close associates face criminal charges and are under house arrest.
On February 2, Navaln was sent to prison for nearly three years for violating the terms of a probation sentence imposed in a 2014 money laundering case while receiving treatment in Germany.
EU diplomacy chief Joseph Borrell said on Tuesday that he would recommend sanctions on Russia later this month at an EU ministerial meeting.
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