Leonid Volkov has been convicted in absentia for forming an extremist group and rehabilitating Nazism
A Russian court has sentenced a close associate of the late opposition figure Alexey Navalny to 18 years behind bars in absentia. Leonid Volkov was charged with creating an extremist group, rehabilitating Nazism, and funding extremist activities.
Volkov joined Navalny’s team in 2013 and moved to the EU in 2019. He has lived in exile since then, most recently in Lithuania. In 2021, Russia put him on the international wanted list on charges of illegally enticing minors to participate in unauthorized protests.
In a statement announcing the sentence, the court also fined Volkov 2 million rubles ($25,000) and banned him from administering any websites for six years. The list of charges includes two counts of “politically-motivated vandalism” and spreading disinformation about the Russian Armed Forces.
Volkov mocked the court’s decision in a post on X. He wrote that although the sentence itself was “harsh,” the fine was miniscule, adding that he was “not even barred from using the internet” and vowed to make good use of it.
He became the head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in July 2021, a month after it was designated an extremist group in Russia.
In 2022, Volkov was designated a “foreign agent” and added to Russia’s terrorism and extremism watchlist together with Ivan Zhdanov, another Navalny associate, who also resides outside the country. The foreign agent status is reserved for those found to be assisting foreign organizations deemed hostile to Russia’s interests, as well as for financing such activity.
Navalny died at a penal colony in February 2024 while serving his sentence. He was initially imprisoned in 2021 for violating the terms of an earlier suspended sentence. In 2023, he was given an additional 19 years on multiple extremism-related charges.
The Russian authorities have since issued arrest warrants against his close associates, including his widow, on various extremism-related charges. All of them reside outside Russia.
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