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Alexei Navalny: People have repeatedly been arrested at mourning rallies for the deceased Kremlin opponent
Photo: Artem Priakhin / SOPA Images / IMAGO
Around three weeks after the death of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, the Foreign Office has tightened its travel advice for Russia.
Previously, people had only advised against staying in the country, but now the warning has been supplemented with one word: they “strongly” advise against traveling to Russia.
The Foreign Office said the change was made “due to the continuing deterioration of the situation, including arbitrary arrests being observed more and more frequently.”
The risk of arbitrary arrests also exists for German citizens and German-Russian dual nationals.
The ministry warned in particular of the “sometimes violent actions of the security forces” at rallies.
Especially since the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian government has taken tough action against critics and dissidents in its own country.
In the past two and a half weeks alone, hundreds of people have been arrested who wanted to place flowers at memorials for Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison camp.
There has been a travel warning for the administrative regions of Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh, Rostov and Krasnodar bordering Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
spr/dpa