Russia sentences top Navalny ally Volkov to 18 years in prison in absentia

A Moscow military court sentenced Leonid Volkov, a Russian oppositionist and associate of late Alexei Navalny, to 18 years in maximum security prison, Mediazona reported on June 11.

The ruling was issued in absentia as Volkov was forced to leave Russia in 2019 and was placed on the federal wanted list in 2021. He currently resides in Lithuania.

The judge sentenced Volkov to a maximum sentence demanded by the prosecution based on 45 cases under nine criminal articles.

The accusations raised against the oppositionist ranged from "discrediting" the Russian military, ties to an allegedly "extremist group," and the "rehabilitation of Nazism" to involving underage persons in rallies and vandalism.

The said charges are often used by the Kremlin to suppress political dissent and silence opposition voices.

Volkov was also ordered to pay a fine of 2 million rubles ($25,000) and banned from engaging in any online activity.

Volkov was one of the closest allies of Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February 2024 under unclear circumstances. Volkov was Navalny's chief of staff during the latter's 2018 presidential bid and led his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) organization until 2023.

In the summer of 2022, Volkov was charged in Russia for "justifying terrorism" and with "discrediting" the military, a charge invented by Russian authorities to silence criticism of the war against Ukraine.

Volkov suffered injuries when he was assaulted at his home in Lithuania in March 2024. A month later, Polish authorities detained a Belarusian suspected of organizing the attack on Moscow's behalf.

The Russian regime has intensified its crackdown on the domestic opposition since the outbreak of Moscow's all-out war against Ukraine in 2022.