Kremlin critic Navalny detained on return to Russia

Russia detained Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny at a Moscow airport on Sunday shortly after he landed on a flight from Berlin.

The country’s prison service, the FSIN, said in a statement it had detained Navalny at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for “multiple violations” of a 2014 suspended sentence for fraud charges.

“He will be held in custody” until a court ruling, it added.

The FSIN said that it had “repeatedly warned” Navalny, who for the past five months was in Germany recovering from a poisoning attack, over failing to appear at the FSIN twice a month.

It said that while it had suspended those conditions while the 44-year-old opposition figure was in hospital in Berlin, he could have fulfilled them once again after checking out in September.

Speaking to AFP at Sheremetyevo, Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova said he had been detained before entering Russia and that officers did not allow her to accompany him.

“Alexei was detained without the reason being explained,” she said. “Everything that is happening now is against the law.”

Russian police also detained top Navalny aides including prominent Moscow activist Lyubov Sobol on Sunday.

Navalny blames his poisoning attack on President Vladimir Putin, a claim the Kremlin denies.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)