Russia issues warrant for exiled opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died on February 16 in a Russian prison, addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on February 28, 2024. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, accusing the exiled opposition figure of participating in an “extremist organization.”

A court said it had “approved the request of the investigators and decided a preventive measure in the form of detention for two months.”

Navalnaya has vowed to continue the work of her husband Alexei Navalny, Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s main opponent who died in an Arctic prison in February.

READ: Navalny’s widow vows to continue fight vs Kremlin, punish Putin

Navalnaya slammed the warrant in a statement,  saying :”Vladimir Putin is a killer and a war criminal. He belongs in prison”.

The activist’s team also dismissed the allegations.

Navalnaya “was arrested (in absentia!) for ‘being a member of an extremist community’ by the infamous Basmanny court of Moscow,” wrote Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s former chief of staff, on X.

“Quite a recognition of Yulia’s determination to continue Alexei’s fight!” he added.

READ: ‘I love you,’ Navalny’s widow Yulia says beside a picture of them together

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday also criticized Russia’s move, calling the arrest order a “warrant against the desire for freedom and democracy” in a post on X.

Navalny’s organizations have been outlawed in Russia, labelled an “extremist” group and put on an official “terrorist” list.

Navalnaya, an economist, stood by her husband as he galvanized mass protests in Russia, flying him out of the country when he was poisoned before defiantly returning to Moscow with him in 2021, knowing he would be jailed.

Following his death, Navalnaya vowed to take up her late husband’s work and has lobbied against  Putin’s government from abroad.

During Russian elections in March, Navalnaya called for mass protests against Putin by forming long queues outside voting stations.