A Moscow court has issued an arrest order for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s widow on extremism accusations.
The allegations launched against Yulia Navalnaya, who resides outside of Russia, in absentia, are related to her alleged participation in an extremist society, local media reported.
According to Russian officials, the opposition leader, Russia’s most prominent for the previous decade, died of natural causes while detained in the Arctic Circle.
Mr. Navalny had been serving a 19-year term on extremism charges that were widely regarded as politically motivated.
His widow, however, blames Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing him.
In reaction to the arrest order, she wrote on X: “When you write about this, please remember to write the most important thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal.”
“His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cosy cell with a TV, but in Russia – in the same colony and the same two-by-three-metre cell in which he killed Alexei.”
The Moscow court determined that Ms Navalnaya, who has pledged to continue her husband’s work, should be remanded in detention and declared wanted.
The decision implies she would be arrested if she entered Russia.
The allegations could be related to a Moscow court verdict in June 2021, which blacklisted three organizations affiliated to Mr Navalny and labeled them “extremists.”
Ms. Navalnaya was unable to attend the burial in March.
This month, she was chosen chair of the Human Rights Foundation in the United States, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights worldwide.
