‘I will not hand over’: Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny vows to proceed opposing Moscow

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has vowed to keep up his opposition to the Russian authorities on the second anniversary of his incarceration.

Navalny, 46, was arrested precisely two years in the past on Tuesday as he returned to Russia from Germany, the place he was being handled for poisoning by a lethal Soviet-era nerve agent.

The staunch Kremlin critic – together with some Western nations – says it was a failed assassination try by the Russian state. Moscow denies involvement.

“Our depressing and exhausted Motherland should be saved,” Navalny wrote through his attorneys on Twitter. “He has been plundered, wounded, drawn into aggressive warfare and became a jail run by essentially the most ruthless and devious scoundrels.”

“Any opposition to this gang – even symbolic in my present restricted capability – is essential. I’ve no intention of handing my nation over to them and I imagine the darkness will fade finally.”

Buddies and allies of Navalny, a lawyer and anti-corruption activist, have campaigned for his launch from a most safety jail in Russia.

Final week, his spouse appealed to jail workers to offer him with fundamental medicines final week, together with her supporters warning that her life was in pressing hazard.

Alexei Melnikov, a member of an official Russian jail monitoring staff, visited Navalny and mentioned his well being was not in peril, the TASS information company reported on Tuesday.

“We talked with him for greater than two hours – I can say that in the mean time nothing threatens his well being. Beforehand, Navalny had signs of a chilly, however he was handled,” Melnikov mentioned, citing the information outlet Russian.

Navalny is the best profile opposition activist in Russia, nonetheless alive. He has gained followers with repeated investigations that declare to disclose that the ruling class has richly enriched itself on the expense of atypical Russians.

The Kremlin was pressured to disclaim in 2021 that Putin owned an opulent Black Sea palace, Navalny claimed in a video with 125 million views on YouTube.

Putin mentions Navalny, and by no means by title.

The lawyer-turned-activist was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in jail in two separate fraud circumstances.

Amnesty Worldwide described the trial as a “farce”, whereas Navalny himself mentioned the allegations have been fabricated to silence him. His anti-corruption group was banned for being an extremist.

Dasha Navalnaya, his daughter, appeared in a video clip on Tuesday, launching a marketing campaign to free her father.

He mentioned the 46-year-old has been repeatedly and unjustly positioned in solitary confinement in jail for his fierce opposition to Russia’s struggle in Ukraine.

“Clearly the true cause my father is in a punishment cell is his anti-war statements. And now they’re harassing him and depriving him of any connection to the skin world to close him up,” Navalnaya mentioned.

“However my father shouldn’t be afraid and won’t cease preventing. My father is an harmless man and deserves to be free.”

Russia’s Federal Jail Service, FSIN, has defended Navalny’s situation prior to now, whereas authorities say his incarceration is legally right.