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Moscow (dpa) - Five months after being poisoned, the Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny wants to return to Russia this Sunday - where he is threatened with direct arrest.
The plane of the Russian company Pobeda with the 44-year-old on board is scheduled to take off from BER Airport in Berlin in the afternoon and land at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow at 5:20 p.m. CET (7:20 p.m. local time).
The opposition leader had called on his supporters to meet him there.
The Moscow public prosecutor's office warned against unauthorized rallies on the airport premises and threatened consequences.
Since the summer, Navalny had recovered from an attack with the neurotoxin Novitschok in Germany.
The opposition leader blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and the FSB for the attack in August.
And he hopes that after his return to Russia an investigation will be launched into the crime.
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In the meantime, Germany has also answered several requests for mutual legal assistance from the Russian judiciary.
In addition, laboratories of the Bundeswehr as well as in France, Sweden and at the Organization for a Ban on Chemical Weapons (OPCW) demonstrated the illegal warfare agent Novichok.
The authorities in Moscow, however, still have doubts about the poisoning.
Putin and the FSB had rejected the allegations of the attempted murder of the opposition member.
Russia's best-known opponent in the opposition must expect arrest after landing because he is said to have failed to fulfill probation requirements in a previous criminal case.
He always pointed out that he was recovering from the attack in Germany and was therefore unable to report personally to the authorities in Moscow.
Russia's law enforcement agency has put him out to be wanted and is ready to take him into custody.
Numerous media complained in advance that the airport administration did not want to allow camera teams.
Hundreds of people had joined a Facebook group set up especially for Nawalny's reception, many of whom wanted to go to the airport on Sunday.
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Navalny had repeatedly emphasized that the political struggle against the “Putin system” could only be continued in Russia itself - despite the risk of going to prison or being killed.
Kremlin critics are repeatedly victims of attacks.
In 2015, the former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was shot near the Kremlin.
Navalny is facing several criminal proceedings in Russia that have been criticized for being politically motivated.
Numerous commentators described Navalny's decision to return to Russia as brave - and a political victory.
"The fact that Navalny is not afraid of the worst possible scenario destroys the whole game of the Kremlin," wrote political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya.
In the autumn there will be parliamentary elections in Russia, in which the opposition politician wants to break the monopoly of the Kremlin party, United Russia.
Russia's best-known opposition activist collapsed on a domestic flight to Moscow after the attack on August 20.
After an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk, he was first treated by Russian doctors and then taken to the Berlin University Clinic Charité on August 22nd.
Kremlin chief Putin had approved the rescue flight himself.
After his discharge from the Charité, Navalny stayed in Germany for rehab.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210117-99-55962 / 2