Xavier Colas Moscow
Moscow
Updated Wednesday, March 13, 2024-02:50
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If Russian dissidents thought they were safe outside the country, they just received a reminder that they are not.
Leonid Volkov,
an exiled Russian opponent and right-hand man for years of the deceased dissident leader
Alexei Navalny,
was treated in a hospital on Tuesday night after being
attacked
outside his home in
Lithuania.
"Leonid Volkov was just attacked in front of his house. Someone broke the car window and
sprayed tear gas
in his eyes, after which the attacker began to hit Leonid with a hammer," Navalny's spokeswoman wrote in a statement. ,
Kira Yarmish.
Local police confirmed the attack.
Navalny's allies shared photos showing Volkov's injuries, including a black eye and blood on his leg.
Volkov, who has lived outside
Russia
since
Moscow
designated Navalny's groups as banned "extremist" organizations in 2021, was stretchered into an ambulance to be evaluated by doctors at a hospital.
During the night he returned to his house and posted a video on his Telegram channel indicating that his attacker broke her arm, but that he did not break her legs, despite hitting them with a hammer "approximately 15 times." ".
Volkov said he would comment in more detail later, but described the attack as
"an obvious, characteristic and typical salute to Putin's gangster style."
According to Volkov's entourage, the attacker broke the window of Volkov's car and sprayed tear gas into his eyes before hitting him repeatedly with a hammer.
Another former Navalny aide,
Ivan Zhdanov,
posted photos of Volkov after the attack on the
Telegram app.
The images clearly show the injuries.
NATO
member Lithuania
hosts many Russian exiles, who fear for their safety due to infiltration by
Kremlin agents.
"The news about the attack on Leonid is shocking. The authorities are working, declared the Lithuanian Foreign Minister,
Gabrielius Landsbergis,
who proclaimed that "the perpetrators will have to answer for their crime." As journalist Sergey
Parkhomenko
recalled on Telegram, Volkov lives in a small town. "That means this wasn't just any street thug or a thief.
"This is a person who went there specifically to attack Volkov."
Leonid Volkov.EM injuries
The attack occurs almost a month after Navalny's death in an
Arctic prison,
a fact that Volkov imputed to Putin, and days before the presidential elections in which a new victory for the veteran Russian leader is expected.
Last year Volkov unexpectedly resigned from his position at FBK (Navalny's anti-corruption foundation) after he was forced to publicly admit to writing a letter defending sanctioned Russian billionaire
Mikhail Fridman.
The letter, which he signed on behalf of the opposition organisation, called on the EU to lift its sanctions on Fridman and other prominent shareholders of his
Alfa Group
consortium in an alleged attempt to fuel divisions within the Russian political elite.
Following the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Navalny's team announced that it would relaunch its regional political network to fight the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent "partial" mobilization ordered by President Putin.
But the harsh repression in the country has left the activists who remain in Russian territory with no margin.
Volkov proclaimed that the network of activists was being strengthened to fight against war and recruitment from within Russia.
"Putin has brought war and suffering to every Russian family and every home," Volkov denounced in a video.
The plan since then has been to appeal to anyone opposed to the war and military mobilization, although with rather modest results.