Russia designates Oppn leader Alexei Navalny's wife Yulia as 'terrorist & extremist'

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was on Thursday put by the authorities in the list of “terrorists and extremists", a designation that implies restrictions on bank transactions that has been widely used against opposition members.

Russia on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, accusing the exiled opposition figure of participating in an “extremist organisation”

A court said it had “approved the request of the investigators and decided a preventive measure in the form of detention for two months”.Navalnaya has vowed to continue the work of her husband Alexei Navalny, Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s main opponent who died in an Arctic prison in February.

However, Navalnaya slammed the warrant in a statement, saying :“Vladimir Putin is a killer and a war criminal. He belongs in prison”.The activist’s team also dismissed the allegations.

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Navalny, the fiercest political foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in February in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he had condemned as politically motivated. Authorities said he became ill after a walk but have otherwise given no details on Navalny’s death.

Navalny was imprisoned after returning to Moscow in January 2021 from Germany, where he had been recuperating from the 2020 nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Navalnaya has accused Putin of her husband’s death and vowed to continue his activities. Russian officials have vehemently denied involvement in Navalny’s poisoning and death.

Navalnaya’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh commented on the authorities’ latest move against her on social platform X, saying that “if they are so fussy it means that Yulia does everything right.”

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Russian authorities haven’t specified the charges against Navalnaya. They appear to relate to authorities designating Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and its regional offices as extremist.

Navalnaya, an economist, stood by her husband as he galvanised mass protests in Russia, flying him out of the country when he was allegedly poisoned before defiantly returning to Moscow with him in 2021, knowing he would be jailed.

Following his death, Navalnaya vowed to take up her late husband’s work and has lobbied against Putin’s government from abroad. During Russian elections in March, Navalnaya called for mass protests against Putin by forming long queues outside voting stations.

With inputs from agencies.