On Tuesday, Russia issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, accusing her of involvement in an “extremist organization.” The court approved investigators’ request for a two-month detention.
Navalnaya, who has continued the work of her late husband Alexei Navalny, criticized the warrant, calling President Vladimir Putin a “killer and war criminal” who deserves to be in prison.
Navalnaya’s team dismissed the charges. Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s former chief of staff, highlighted the arrest as a testament to her determination. “Yulia was arrested (in absentia!) for ‘being a member of an extremist community’ by the notorious Basmanny court of Moscow,” Volkov wrote on X, noting her commitment to her husband’s cause.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also condemned the warrant, calling it a “warrant against the desire for freedom and democracy” in a post on X.
Navalny’s organizations have been banned in Russia, labeled as “extremist” and added to an official “terrorist” list. Navalnaya, an economist, supported her husband through mass protests, his poisoning, and his subsequent return to Moscow in 2021, knowing he would be jailed.
After Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison in February, Navalnaya pledged to continue his work, lobbying against Putin’s government from abroad. During Russian elections in March, she called for mass protests against Putin by encouraging long queues at voting stations.
