Mon 17 January 2022:
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most outspoken critic, stated on Monday that he does not regret returning to the country. On his return to Russia from Germany on January 17, last year, Navalny was detained in a Moscow airport, kicking off a months-long crackdown that saw his most prominent allies imprisoned or exiled.
“I don’t regret it for a second,” Navalny wrote in a post on Instagram from a penal colony outside Moscow.
“Having served my first year in prison, I want to tell everyone exactly what I shouted to those gathered outside the court when a convoy led me to a police van: don’t be afraid of anything,” Navalny added.
“This is our country and we have no other.”
Navalny’s poisoning with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok in August 2020, as well as his subsequent arrest, drew significant condemnation and penalties from Western capitals.
Moscow has refused to initiate an investigation into the assassination attempt on his life, citing a lack of proof and blaming Berlin for not cooperating.
Navalny was sentenced to over two years in prison on old fraud allegations that he claims are politically motivated.
Russia this week added two of the opposition leader’s closest aides to a list of “terrorists and extremists” ahead of the anniversary of his detention.
Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which produces massively popular video probes accusing the government of systemic graft, was directed by Ivan Zhdanov, 33, while Navalny’s network of regional offices was led by Leonid Volkov, 41.
Both of these organizations were shut down by workers fearing persecution after being banned by Russian courts.
Investigators questioned seven former regional Navalny coordinators last month, including Ksenia Fadeyeva, a local lawmaker in Tomsk, Siberia.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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