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CNN —A Russian court has rejected an appeal by jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny against a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges, according to Russian state media RIA, in the latest crackdown on the outspoken Kremlin critic. Navalny was sentenced in August, after he was found guilty of creating an extremist community, financing extremist activities and numerous other crimes. Navalny appeared at the hearing on Tuesday via video link from a penal colony in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow. Supporters of Navalny claim his arrest and incarceration are a politically motivated attempt to stifle his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A joint investigation by CNN and the group Bellingcat linked the Russian Security Service to Navalny’s poisoning.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Navalny’s, ” Navalny, Daniel Kholodny, Novichok, Moscow’s Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Russia’s Ministry, Internal Affairs, YouTube, Russian Security Service Locations: Vladimir, Moscow, Russia, Germany, Soviet, Berlin, Siberian, Omsk, Ukraine

☆ See inside President Vladimir Putin's opulent $100 million superyacht
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin spent $32 million refitting a superyacht, a new report suggests. AdvertisementAdvertisementWhile his troops flooded into Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin was spending millions of dollars on an opulent refit of one of his superyachts, according to an investigation from opposition leader Alexei Navalny's team. Advertisement Advertisement Watch: Inside Putin's secret bunker and billion-dollar palaceThe total cost of the works came to $32 million, according to the investigation. AdvertisementAdvertisement"OFAC is identifying Russia-flagged Graceful and Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, as blocked property in which President Vladimir Putin has an interest," the US Treasury website said in a June 2022 press release. The Russian president is reportedly also the owner of the 450-foot, $700 million Scheherazade, one of the largest yachts in the world.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny's, Pyotr Stolypin, Putin, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich Organizations: Morning, Russian, Blohm, Russian Federation, US Department of, Foreign, Control, US Treasury, Ukraine Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Saint Petersburg, Hamburg, Germany, Voss, Kaliningrad, Russia, Islands, Belarus, Cayman Islands, Olympia

☆ What are Russia's new charges against jailed Putin foe Navalny?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Yulia Morozova/File PhotoAug 4 (Reuters) - Russian state prosecutors have asked a court to sentence jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny to a further 20 years in a penal colony on various criminal charges including extremism, with a verdict expected on Friday. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's fiercest and most vocal domestic opponent, is already serving sentences totalling 11-1/2 years on fraud and other charges, which he says were trumped up to silence him. Navalny says the charges, like all those before them, have been fabricated to keep him out of public life and politics. It was not clear what the terrorism case could relate to, but Russia's Federal Security Service has said that Ukraine and Russian opposition figures, including Navalny supporters, were involved in the killing of a prominent Russian war blogger. Terrorism carries a sentence in Russia of up to 35 years.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Yulia Morozova, Navalny, Vladimir Putin's, Dmitry Peskov, Filipp Lebedev, Lucy Papachristou, Gareth Jones, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, Nazism, Federal Security Service, Terrorism, Thomson Locations: Vladimir Region, Basmanny, Moscow, Russia, Russian, Ukraine

Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 19 more years in prison after being found guilty in a Russian court on a series of charges, his team confirmed Friday. Navalny faced charges of inciting and financing "extremist activity" and "rehabilitating Nazi ideology," charges he and his supporters reject. In a social media post on Thursday, Navalny said that he expected to receive a "Stalinist" prison term. Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics, was already serving two prison sentences. A nine-year prison sentence on charges of embezzlement and fraud and more than two years for a parole violation.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Navalny, Russia's, Vladimir Putin's, Biden, Matt Miller, Miller Organizations: IK, Kremlin, Navalny Locations: Russian, Moscow, Melekhovo, Vladimir, Ukraine, Russia

☆ Jailed Russian opposition politician Navalny gets 19 more years in prison, says his team
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via video link from a penal colony in the Vladimir Region during a hearing at the Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova/File PhotoMELEKHOVO, Russia, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was sentenced on Friday to an additional 19 years in prison after being found guilty on a series of new charges, Navalny's supporters said on social media. In a video feed from a court hearing at a penal colony east of Moscow, Navalny could be seen wearing a black prison uniform and standing with his arms folded as he listened to the verdicts. Navalny, the most prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, is already serving 11-1/2 years in the penal colony on charges including fraud that he says were trumped up to silence him. Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan Editing by Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Yulia Morozova, Navalny's, Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Mark Trevelyan, Gareth Jones Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Vladimir Region, Basmanny, Moscow, Russia, Russian

☆ Russian prosecutors seek 20 more years for opposition politician Navalny
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

July 20 (Reuters) - Russian state prosecutors on Thursday asked a court to sentence jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny to a further 20 years in a penal colony on criminal charges, including extremism, at the close of his trial, his supporters said. Court records show they relate to six different articles of the Russian criminal code, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation. Navalny's aides said the verdict would be announced on Aug. 4; acquittals of opposition figures are practically unheard-of in Russia. In his closing statement, Navalny told the court: "I continue to fight against that unscrupulous evil that calls itself 'the state power of the Russian Federation'." "We are not following this trial," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters last month.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's, Navalny's, Navalny, Putin's, Dmitry Peskov, Kevin Liffey, Andrew Cawthorne, Andrew Osborn, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: IK, Russian Federation, United, Kremlin, Moscow, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russian, Melekhovo, Moscow, Russia, United Russia, Germany, Soviet, Ukraine

☆ Russian Supreme Court rejects Navalny challenge to prison conditions, Mediazona reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 22 (Reuters) - Russia's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge by the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to prison officials' refusal to give him writing equipment, the Russian independent news site Mediazona reported. He is also on trial for a host of further offences that could keep him in prison for decades more. "In order to have them fetch a can of coffee out of my things and bring it to the cell, I have to write an application." Navalny's complaint had made it through a series of lower courts before being definitively thrown out by the Supreme Court. Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Navalny, I’m, Mediazona, Kevin Liffey, David Gregorio Our Organizations: IK, Supreme, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russian, Melekhovo, Moscow

CNN —Jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny appeared before a Russian court Monday to defend himself against fresh charges of extremism, in a trial that could extend his prison term by decades. In comments posted to his Twitter account, Navalny said the “absurd” charges could lead to him serving a further 30 years behind bars. Navalny’s team challenged judge Andrey Suvorov, and asked him to recuse himself, according to the team’s Telegram posts. Also present at the hearing is Daniel Kholodny, the former technical director of the Navalny Live YouTube channel, accused in the same extremism case. Putin himself said in December 2020 that if Russian security services had wanted to kill Navalny, they “would have finished” the job.

Persons: CNN —, Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Navalny, Navalny’s, Vadim Kobzev, Olga Mikhailova, Svetlana Davyodva, Andrey Suvorov, Vladimir, ”, Daniel Kholodny, Evgenia Novozhenina, Lilia Chanysheva, Chanysheva, “, Novichok, Putin Organizations: CNN, TASS, IK, Journalists, Russian Security Service Locations: Melekhovo, Moscow, Russian, Ufa, Russia, Germany, Soviet, Berlin, Siberian, Omsk, Siberia

☆ Russia's Navalny defends himself in court against new extremism charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MELEKHOVO, Russia, June 19 (Reuters) - Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared before a Russian court on Monday to defend himself against new charges of extremism that could extend his prison term by decades. His supporters accuse Moscow of trying to break him to silence his criticism of President Vladimir Putin, something the Kremlin denies. In a tweet posted on his account by his supporters last month, Navalny responded with typical irony to the new charges. In April, investigators formally linked Navalny supporters to the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, a popular military blogger and supporter of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine who was killed by a bomb in St Petersburg. Russia's National Anti-terrorism Committee (NAC) said Ukrainian intelligence had organised the bombing with help from Navalny's supporters.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Navalny, Alexei, I've, Vladlen, Mark Trevelyan, Kevin Liffey Organizations: IK, Moscow, Kremlin, Journalists, General's, Ukraine, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, MELEKHOVO, Melekhovo, Moscow, Germany, Soviet, St Petersburg

"When you are in a punishment cell and don't have much entertainment, you can always amuse yourself by corresponding with the prison administration," Navalny said. The letters showed that Navalny asked for an eclectic range of items, including, variously, a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika, a staff, two pouches of cheap tobacco, a kimono and a black belt. "The question of awarding eastern martial arts qualifications is not handled by the administration," the prison wrote back on April 28. In response to Navalny's request for a permit to keep a kangaroo, the prison wrote: "The animal identified in your request relates to the double crested-marsupial... The prison wrote coldly that massage chairs were not provided.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Navalny, Nikolai Gogol, Guy Faulconbridge, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: IK, Karate, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Melekhovo, Moscow

☆ Revealed: Vladimir Putin's secret Black Sea bunker
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | Anastasiia Carrier | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

You would think that the architects who designed Vladimir Putin's palace thought of everything. They failed to hide plans showing two elaborate tunnels running beneath the palace complex — plans that any competent state-security apparatus would fight tooth-and-nail to keep secret. The underground complex beneath Putin's palace consists of two separate tunnels connected by an elevator that descends roughly 50 meters below the surface. Gelendzhik is the town closest to the palace complex, a five-hour drive from the resort city of Sochi. "With the war in Ukraine," Kimmage said, "there's speechmaking, there's propaganda, there's exaggeration — there's this performative aspect that plays to Russia's domestic politics.

☆ Scores of world figures urge Putin to free Navalny in open letter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 28 (Reuters) - Scores of famous figures, including writers and actors, have signed an open letter urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to free opposition politician Alexei Navalny and to end what they called his torture in prison. Russian authorities say Navalny and his supporters are extremists with links to the U.S. CIA intelligence agency intent on trying to destabilise Russia. They have outlawed his movement and Navalny himself is facing new charges that could add years to his prison sentence. Navalny's supporters have grown increasingly worried about his health in recent weeks, saying they fear he could die in jail. The Kremlin denied trying to kill him and said there was no evidence he was poisoned with a nerve agent.

☆ Putin's political enemies and Kremlin critics face an 'extremely dangerous' situation in Russia right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

"All of the opposition political leaders are either in jail or under restrictive measures or outside of the country. The oppression of political opposition figures in Russia is nothing new. Some accuse the Russian state of trying to poison them, while others have died in suspicious circumstances. Evgenia Novozhenina | ReutersThe persecution of political opposition figures attracted global attention in 2020 when the high-profile Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya agreed that "it's extremely dangerous" to be a critic of the Kremlin now, no matter what your background is.

Then on Monday, opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for treason and spreading "false information" about Russia's war in Ukraine. loadingThe Kremlin says it has no say over court decisions and Navalny's treatment is a matter for the prison service. Putin has told Russians that the West is seeking to use traitors as a "fifth column" to sow discord and ultimately destroy Russia. ARREST WARRANTThe trend has accelerated since March 17, when Putin was accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Russia's prison service did not reply to a request for comment.

☆ Russia's Navalny faces new charges after prison 'provocation' - lawyer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, April 18 (Reuters) - Russia's leading opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, faces the prospect of new criminal charges after in effect being forced to break the rules of the maximum security penal colony where he is being held, one of his lawyers said on Tuesday. He had then been told he would be charged with thwarting prison authorities, which carries a maximum sentence of five years, Kobzev said. The penitentiary service, which has in the past denied allegations of mistreatment, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Navalny first came to prominence by drawing attention to the wealth of senior officials in a series of widely watched videos. For a time he was able to channel public dissatisfaction with Vladimir Putin, Russia's unchallenged leader for the last 23 years.

RISE TO PROMINENCEA former lawyer, Navalny rose to prominence with blogs which exposed what he said was vast corruption across the Russian elite. Navalny has been detained countless times for organising public rallies, and prosecuted repeatedly on charges including corruption, embezzlement and fraud. Putin dismissed the investigation as a smear, saying: "If someone had wanted to poison him, they would have finished him off." KEY NAVALNY QUOTES:ON THE UKRAINE WAR:"This is a stupid war which your Putin started," Navalny told an appeal court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony in 2022. ON PUTIN:"Corruption is the foundation of contemporary Russia, it is the foundation of Mr. Putin’s political power," Navalny told Reuters in an interview in 2011.

Kira Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, said in a video clip on Twitter accompanied by disturbing background music. Navalny's supporters cast him as a Russian version of South Africa's Nelson Mandela who will one day be freed from jail to lead the country. Navalny accused the Russian state of trying to kill him, something it denied. Yarmysh said medicine sent to Navalny's prison by his mother was not collected by prison officials from the post office and was returned. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn Editing by Peter Graff and Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CNN —Jailed Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been experiencing severe stomach issues in prison, and members of his team fear that he may have been poisoned again. Navalny lost eight kilograms over the past 15 days in his isolated prison cell, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a Twitter post on Tuesday. “The lawyer says that an ambulance was called for Alexey Navalny on the night of Friday to Saturday because of an acute stomach pain. “This may sound like nonsense and paranoia to someone else, but not to Navalny after Novichok,” Kobzev tweeted on Tuesday. Investigative journalist Christo Grozev, who worked on CNN’s “Navalny” documentary, said he believes Putin has “motivation” to poison Navalny.

☆ Russia charges St Petersburg bomb suspect with terrorism
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. April 4 (Reuters) - Russian investigators on Tuesday charged Darya Trepova, a 26-year-old woman, with terrorism offences over the killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a bomb blast in St Petersburg. Tatarsky, a cheerleader for Russia's military campaign in Ukraine whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed on Sunday in a cafe where he was due to talk. Trepova was transferred from St Petersburg to Moscow, where prosecutors were due to ask the Basmanny district court to remand her in pre-trial detention. Footage of the St Petersburg event had Tatarsky showing the figurine off to his audience before it exploded.

☆ Replica of Kremlin critic Navalny's cell on display at Dutch exhibit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Anthony Deutsch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Alexei Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh is seen in a replica of the prison cell where the jailed Russian opposition leader is being held, on display as part of the exhibit "Silenced" at Loevestein Castle, the Netherlands, March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Anthony DeutschLOEVESTEIN CASTLE, Netherlands, March 31 (Reuters) - A replica of the two-by-three-metre prison cell holding Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny went on display in the Netherlands on Friday as part of an exhibit entitled "Silenced" about political prisoners through the centuries. Navalny, the leading Russian opposition figure, nearly died after being poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent while campaigning against Russian President Vladimir Putin in August 2020. Amid a crackdown by Russian authorities on the opposition, many of Navalny's most prominent allies left Russia rather than face restrictions or jail at home. She said Navalny's prison conditions are harsh, even by the standards of an authoritarian government.

☆ 'Navalny,' portrait of Kremlin critic, wins best documentary Oscar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Mary Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] A still image taken from video footage shows law enforcement officers speaking with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny before leading him away at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, Russia January 17, 2021. REUTERS/Reuters TV/File PhotoLOS ANGELES, March 12 (Reuters) - The film "Navalny" about the poisoning that nearly killed Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, and his detention upon his 2021 return to Moscow, won the Oscar for best feature documentary on Sunday. In the documentary, Navalny works with investigative news outlet Bellingcat and they unmask FSB agents sent to poison Navalny in 2020. He decides to return to Russia in January 2021 with Yulia and throngs of supporters await his arrival. At the end of the film, Navalny is asked what his message would be to the Russian people if he were killed.

☆ Jailed Navalny vows to keep resisting the Kremlin as campaign to free him launches
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday used the second anniversary of his incarceration to reinforce his promise to keep opposing the Kremlin, as his family and allies launched a campaign to free him. I'm not going to surrender my country to them, and I believe that the darkness will eventually fade away." And now they're tormenting him and depriving him of any connection with the outside world in order to silence him," said Navalnaya. Russia's federal prison service, FSIN, has defended Navalny's conditions in the past, while the authorities say his incarceration is legally sound. The campaign to secure his release is designed to marshal support in Russia, and to publicise his fate and seek financial support abroad.

☆ Russia's Navalny accuses authorities of using prison to break his health
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a post on Twitter, he also complained of being injected with unknown drugs. "See how the system works when you are not allowed to beat up a person, but your leadership ordered you to hurt them badly," the Twitter post said. Navalny said he had asked for a month and a half to see a doctor. The Twitter post included images from Navalny's medical records, which he said had been released to him a month after he asked to see them. Navalny, his allies and Western governments and rights groups say he was the victim of trumped-up charges designed to silence him.

☆ Navalny: mercenary boss visited his jail to recruit for Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 21 (Reuters) - Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company that has taken a major part in the Ukraine war, had visited his prison to recruit convicts. He did not say when the alleged visit took place. The Wagner Group, which Prigozhin has said he founded in 2014, has become increasingly prominent during the Ukraine war, including during a brutal, long-running battle for the small city of Bakhmut. In his Twitter post, he said the recruitment of convicts to fight in Ukraine showed the corrosion of the Russian state. In his response, Prigozhin took issue with the fact that many of Navalny's supporters had been allowed by the state to flee abroad.

☆ Navalny's top aide says Ukraine war shows Putin is crazier than previously thought, warning the Russian leader is not 'in touch with reality'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Navalny's top aide told the Guardian that Ukraine shows Putin is crazier than they thought. But Navalny's top aide, Leonid Volkov, told the Guardian that Putin's handling of the Ukraine war has changed their view of the Russian leader. The war in Ukraine has largely made Putin an international pariah, while isolating Russia both economically and politically. But if Putin ever turns to negotiations to end the war, Volkov is hopeful that Navalny could be seen as a bargaining chip. In tweets via an intermediary, Navalny urged people to campaign against the Ukraine war and Putin "at every opportunity."

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