An attack on a former aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny earlier this week was likely carried out through Russian special services, Lithuanian officials said on Thursday, amid the hypothesis that Russian President Vladimir Putin is to blame for the incident days before Russia’s presidential election.
Darius Jauniskis, Lithuania’s counterintelligence chief, said the attack on Leonid Volkov was likely “organized through Russia” and gave the impression of having been carried out through a local recruited through Russian special services, according to Agence France-Presse.
Volkov, an exiled Russian opposition activist, continuously pounded with a hammer outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday night and reportedly suffered damage to his arm and other leg injuries.
Hours before the attack, Volkov told Reuters that the leaders of Navlany’s opposition organization faced “high individual risks,” fearing “to know that Putin is not only killing inside Russia, but he is also killing other people outside Russia. “
The Lithuanian news firm said on Wednesday that the attack was likely aimed at disrupting the “activities of the Russian opposition,” similar to Russia’s upcoming “undemocratic” presidential election.
On Monday, Volkov called on supporters of the Russian opposition to arrive at polling stations at noon on March 17, the last day of the election, to allow “voters a meaningful and visual view of the current, terrible and tragic conditions. “
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said there was “no doubt” that the attack on Volkov was planned: “And I can only say one thing to Putin: no one here is afraid of you. “
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the incident, but said: “Putin is not to be feared, but he has a good reputation and is listened to. “
Volkov is one of several Russian opposition activists who have fled Russia in recent years for fear of reprisals from the Kremlin. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was declared an “extremist” organization by a Moscow court in 2021, with the United States and other countries condemning the resolution as “particularly disturbing” and “indicative of the Russian government’s growing crackdown on the political opposition, civil society, and independent media. “Lithuania’s counterintelligence firm says the Kremlin sees Navalny’s team as “the most damaging opposition force” capable of “exerting genuine influence over Russia’s internal processes,” Reuters reported.
Several accusations have been made against the Kremlin over the past two decades, following the deaths of some of Putin’s most prominent critics. President Joe Biden said Putin was “responsible” for Navalny’s death last month, suggesting his death was an “additional sign of Putin’s brutality. “. ” Navalny nearly died in 2020 after being poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the Russian government. Putin claimed that the explosion of a hand grenade may have triggered a plane carrying Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief uprising opposed to the Russian government crashed last year. Putin’s claim follows allegations made by British defense officials, who said the Russian intelligence firm likely targeted Prigozhin.
The attack on Navalny’s aide against the cadres of the Russian special services, according to Lithuanian counterintelligence (Reuters)