Russian opponent Alexei Navalni was arrested on theft …

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni was arrested on Sunday at a Moscow airport on his return to his country of Germany. There he spent more than four months recovering from a serious poisoning situation of which he accused the government of President Vladimir Putin. Navalni “faces a suspended sentence and since December 29, 2020, he was wanted for numerous violations of the probationary period”, raised the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of Russia in a statement. The 44-year-old leader is said to have violated a 2014 suspended sentence for fraud and will be held in custody until a final judgment is rendered by a court.

Navalni’s return caused a stir in Moscow, to the point that at the last minute, it was decided that the plane would land at a different airport than the one planned for this flight. Riot police entered Vnukovo airport, where it was due to land, and forced everyone waiting for Navalni to leave the building. “Liubov Sobol, Ruslan Shavedinov, lawyer Alexei Molokoyedov, Navalni Ilia Pajomov’s assistant, campaign director Anastasia Kadetova and Konstantin Kotov have been arrested,” denounced Ivan Jdanov, close to the Russian opponent.

Jake sullivan, appointed by US President-elect Joe Biden to be his national security adviser, said “Navalni must be released immediately and those responsible for the shameful attack on his life must be prosecuted”. The Russian response was immediate. “I would like to ask Mr. Sullivan to respect international law, and I also ask you to take care of the problems in your own country “, assured the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajárova.

On August 20, Navalni, a staunch opponent of Putin, suddenly felt ill on a flight from Tomsk, Siberia, to Moscow, so the plane had to make an emergency landing. Three European laboratories concluded that he had been poisoned by a neurotoxic substance such as Novichok. However, Russia has always denied that Navalny was poisoned and maintained that the poison was not present in his body when he was treated in Russia.. Putin himself said last December that the accusation was not the product of an “investigation” but of “documents from US special services”.