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MOSCOW, January 17: Police detained top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Sunday when he flew back to Russia months after barely surviving a poisoning attack, prompting a new wave of Western condemnation.
Navalny was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport less than an hour after flying in from Germany, where he was recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he says was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
The European Union, several EU governments, Canada and a top adviser to US President-elect Joe Biden immediately called for his release, and some in the EU urged new sanctions against Moscow.
Human rights groups joined the calls. Amnesty International said that Navalny had become a prisoner of conscience and accused the Russian authorities of carrying out a “relentless campaign” to silence him.
European Council President Charles Michel wrote on Twitter that Navalny’s arrest was “unacceptable”, while the French Foreign Ministry said the arrest caused “great concern”.
“Mr. Navalny must be released immediately and the perpetrators of the scandalous attack on his life must be held accountable,” tweeted Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded in a post on her Facebook page, telling foreign leaders to “respect international law” and “solve problems in your own country.”
Navalny, 44, was greeted by uniformed policemen in black surgical-style masks at passport control after his flight from Berlin landed in Moscow, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
He hugged his wife Yulia, who was traveling with him, and they took him away, and his assistants later said he was being held at the police station near the airport.
“Alexei was detained without explanation,” Navalny’s lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, told AFP at the airport, saying that she had been denied the right to accompany him.
“Everything that is happening now is against the law,” Mikhailova said.
‘I’m not afraid’
Russia’s FSIN prison service said in a statement that it had detained Navalny for “multiple violations” of a 2014 suspended sentence for fraud, adding that he “will be detained” until a court ruling is issued.
The FSIN said it had previously warned Navalny that he would be arrested for failing to comply with the conditions of probation while in Germany, including checking in with the service twice a month.
Speaking to reporters in Sheremetyevo prior to his arrest, Navalny said he was not afraid of being arrested.
“I am not afraid … because I know I am right, I know that the criminal cases against me are fabricated,” Navalny said, standing in front of a photo of the Kremlin in the terminal.
Navalny’s plane landed in Sheremetyevo after a dramatic last-minute detour from another Moscow airport, Vnukovo, where several hundred of his supporters and media awaited his return.
Several of his associates were detained at the airport while the plane was in the air, including prominent Moscow activist Lyubov Sobol and other top aides.
OVD Info, which monitors arrests at political protests in Russia, said at least 55 people had been detained at the airport, which had banned mass events due to coronavirus restrictions.
Sobol and others later said they were released and face administrative charges.
Dozens of police in riot gear with black helmets and batons had been deployed to the airport, where Navalny supporters said they looked forward to welcoming him home.
“I had to come to support him, to show him that he is not alone, that everything will be fine,” Tanya Shchukina, an artist who had traveled from Saint Petersburg, told AFP.
Navalny fell seriously ill on a flight over Siberia in August and was flown to Berlin in an induced coma. Western experts concluded that he was poisoned with the Soviet-designed Novichok nerve toxin.
The Kremlin denies any involvement and Russian investigators said there was no reason to launch an investigation.
Navalny may now face criminal charges under an investigation launched late last year by Russian investigators who say he misappropriated more than $ 4 million in donations.
Anti-corruption investigations
Navalny has been the symbol of Russia’s protest movement for a decade, after rising to prominence as an anti-corruption blogger and leading street demonstrations against the government.
Post research on YouTube about the wealth of Russia’s political elites. Some of the videos garner millions of views, making the activist’s team the target of lawsuits, police raids and jail time.
The Kremlin’s opponent has never held an elected position. He ranked second in a 2013 vote for Moscow mayor, but was barred from opposing Putin in the 2018 presidential election.
Their allies are also frequently prevented from running for office.
His team has been preparing to challenge the ruling United Russia party in the lower house state Duma elections to be held in September.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on January 17 that the United States “strongly condemns” the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who was detained while returning to Russia for the first time since his poisoning last summer.
“The United States strongly condemns Russia’s decision to arrest Aleksey Navalny,” Pompeo said in a statement.
“We note with great concern that his arrest is the latest in a series of attempts to silence Navalny and other opposition figures and independent voices who are critical of the Russian authorities.”
Navalny was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport less than an hour after flying in from Germany, where he was recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he says was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
The United States joined the European Union in condemning the move, and Pompeo said that “Navalny is not the problem. We demand their immediate and unconditional release ”.
“Confident political leaders do not fear competing voices, commit violence, or unjustly detain political opponents,” he added. AFP
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