Russian Court Orders Arrest of Yulia Navalnaya

News coming out of Russia that a court in Moscow has issued an arrest warrant for the late protest leader, Aleksei Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya. That news just coming in with a few more details. So let’s bring in Will Vernon, who is across this breaking story, and Will tell us a little more about what is emerging there from Moscow.

So we’ve heard from the Moscow court system, they posted a message on their telegram channel. I’ve got it here, saying that, “Yulia Navalnaya should be arrested for two months in absentia by request of Russia’s investigative committee.” That’s basically the equivalent of the FBI in Russia. She’s accused of carrying out crimes under the article of the criminal code, so that’s a serious criminal offense in Russia of participation in an extremist group. And she’s now been placed on a wanted list. Now, Yulia Navalnaya, of course, is not in Russia. She’s in the West where she’s been living for a while now, but still quite a serious development from the Russian authorities.

It really is. And these library pictures from a few months ago. But people will remember with the shocking death of Aleksei Navalny on that day. Incredibly, she spoke, didn’t she, to delegates at the Munich Security Conference.

She did. So in February 2024, when the Russian Prison Service announced that Aleksei Navalny had passed away, only hours later, Yulia Navalnaya, despite just getting the awful news that her husband had died. She got up in front of a crowd at the Munich Security Conference to condemn the Russian authorities in general, but Russian President Vladimir Putin in particular, who she blamed, who she held responsible for her husband’s death. And shortly after that, she announced that she would be taking over in a leadership position of Aleksei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation.

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This is the organization that he founded that originally became well known for posting anti-corruption investigations into Vladimir Putin, those around him, the security and state apparatus officials in Russia. But it then also organized anti-Putin protests in Russia and abroad too. And shortly after the war started, when the Russian authorities launched a crackdown against all dissent in Russia, the anti-corruption foundation, Aleksei Navalny and his associates, they all fell under that crackdown and the Anti-Corruption Foundation and all organizations linked to Aleksei Navalny were outlawed as extremists. And we can assume that this latest charge of Yulia Navalnaya are for participation in extremist groups. Something that most people, I’m sure will find utterly absurd is related indeed to the anti-corruption foundation that her late husband founded.

Yes, you touched on it, but I suppose what it underlines again and signals again is that any sort of dissent, any sort of criticism, and you reference how she directly pointed the finger at Vladimir Putin, there are consequences. The Russian authorities simply do not stand for it and there are consequences.

That’s right. And the law, things like arrest warrants and using these extremism laws, these are the tools that the Russian authorities use to ensure that there is absolutely no opposition whatsoever to Vladimir Putin because… This isn’t just directed towards opponents, genuine opponents inside Russia, it’s also directed towards perceived opponents. Anyone who even in a kind of hypothetical sense could pose a threat to Vladimir Putin. So-

And I suppose the worry, sorry to cut across to you, but the worry would also be that Russia has proved itself again and again over the years to actually have no respect for international borders. I know she’s not in Russia, but there will be concern wherever she is, somewhere in Europe, in terms of ensuring her safety.

Absolutely. And we, of course, don’t know exactly where Yulia Navalnaya is, where she’s based, where she spends most of her time, because as you say, the Kremlin’s opponents, many of them, don’t feel safe anywhere. We think back to 2018 when Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by Novichok. In the UK there have been other examples of Russian dissidents, opponents of Vladimir Putin being assassinated, poisoned overseas. There was one very famous case last year when a Russian serviceman who had fled Russia, who had actually cooperated with the Ukrainians and taken a Russian helicopter and flown to Ukraine and had basically deserted from the Russian armed forces and joined Ukraine. He was then found dead, shot to death in Spain. So many dissidents don’t feel safe anywhere. A few years ago, my colleagues and I were in Lithuania, in Vilnius, and we met a number of Russian dissidents there, people who were connected with Aleksei Navalny, and they were incredibly concerned about their safety, the safety of their children, because as we know, the long arm of the Kremlin can reach as far as the West, Europe and even further afield.

Yes. Another disturbing development in the last hour or so. Will thank you for taking us through all of that. You’ll continue to monitor that story. We’ll talk again if there is new detail. Will Vernon there with the latest on that breaking development.